It's Not Living If It's Not With You
by JyrusQuash
Summary: Something is changing in the lives of our favourite adventurers. Will it be for the better? Takes place after the movie.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey Friends,_**

 ** _Totally realized that I jumped into YET ANOTHER FIC but with absolutely no explanation! For that I sincerely apologize! So here's something that I wanted to do for awhile; something to pay tribute to my Canadian Queer-Positive adolescence!_**

 ** _This lil' web-series meant so much for me, and ever since the movie came out, I wanted to try some family-esque stuff (kinda like 'Hospitals' but not really)._**

 ** _So please, enjoy my mess of a fic._**

 ** _I do not own an ounce of the Characters from the series; just the ones I made up._**

* * *

"Terrance and Gloria Scott have been convicted of both illicit migration and human trafficking." The woman on the television said, presumably reading from a teleprompter, "Prosecution for the trial had released records dating back to the late 80's. These records included evidence of various tax evasions and counterfeit identification for over 50 women. The couple, both aged 42, have two daughters but because they are both under the ages of 16, their names will be withheld and kept private…"

"What a mess." Carmilla commented through a mouth full of popcorn. Laura and Carmilla were just casually watching the 7 o'clock news. The news story that was currently being reported on had been the headline for Toronto's news stations for a little over two weeks. A victim of human trafficking had managed to escape her captives and give precise evidence in tracking down the people behind her horrible circumstance. As a shock to everyone, but Carmilla, it ended up being an affluent couple from the famous "Bridle Path" community. The arrests of Terrance and Gloria Scott were made and Toronto news crews responded with full force.

"Those poor girls…" Carmilla just looked over her shoulder at her partner, shaking her head. Laura huffed indignantly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What? That must totally suck! Having to find out your parents were top tier criminals and all."

"If you tell me that comment had nothing to do with your 'baby fever', I'll stop judging you." Carmilla answered simply. Ever since both women decided to start planning a family, Laura had been over "hyped" about the safety of literally every living child. Laura huffed again.

"What? I can't feel sorry for them? Heck, they could be 27 and I'd still feel horrible for them."

"Yeah, sure cupcake."

"Still…since we are on the topic of baby fever…"

"I said I wouldn't hate the idea." Carmilla states as she wraps her free arm around Laura's shoulders, "Let's just focus on the present."

"Well, presently, I want to have a discussion about that IVF clinic I was talking about." Laura promptly got up, much to Carmilla's disapproval, in search of the many pamphlets she had been collecting over the past two months. With a groan and a sassy eye-roll, Carmilla admitted defeat.

"You're killing me, creampuff."

-Two months later-

"Well I'm going to be the only one present because everyone else has Fridays off." Laura said into the phone, as she poured herself a cup of hot water from the office's kettle. She was making a nice cup of tea when she was interrupted by the Children's Aid Society inquiring about one of their cases – children – coming to her office for volunteer work. Apparently, two weeks prior, a young girl was found vandalizing the building that Laura shared with a variety of other small businesses. Because of the extraordinary circumstances, highlighted by the kid's defence attorney, the proper punishment for their first offence was to enlist them in community service, for the building's patrons.

Laura, being Laura, is in the office from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Fridays even when no one has an actual obligation to be at work. The "perpetrator", as everyone has been calling the vandalizing kid, had already assisted the other offices and all that was left was 10 hours at Laura's.

"Yes, no, of course! She can totally do some of her hours now. I'm in until three so she'll have…" Laura looks to the clock on the wall but quickly realizes it is out of battery. She sighed and looked at the watch that LaF gave her for her birthday. Just to her luck, it was not digital. After an uncomfortable silence, due to Laura's horrible mental math, an answer was finally reached. "…about four and a half hours of her scheduled ten." The representative of the Children's Aid Society thanked her and told her that the vandal would be at the office shortly. "Great, thanks. I'll e-mail you when she arrives and again when she's done her hours for the day. Yes, perfect! Have a good day!" After hanging up the phone and preparing her tea, Laura quickly cleaned up her mess and went back to her work.

She sat in the office's board room surrounded by nothing except articles about the UN's latest scandal, her Doctor Who mug, a pad of paper, an incredible array of rainbow coloured pens and multiple DVDs. Laura was currently watching news reports from around the world, on the projector. She was working on an article that was to be submitted to CBC about a Canadian Diplomat assaulting someone at the Canadian Embassy in Cuba. It was as fun as it sounded but Laura couldn't focus on anything aside from the conversation she and Carmilla had last night.

After nearly a year of subtly bringing it up in conversation, leaving pamphlets strewn across Carmilla's belongings to down right pleading with her, Laura had finally got Carmilla to cave. The vampire conceded to beginning the process of looking for prospective sperm donors. They were finally going to start having a family and Laura couldn't wait.

She would catch herself thinking about how much she loved spending time with her dad and doing fun things as a family of two. She couldn't wait to have that feeling but with a child of her very own. Carmilla seemed indifferent to the entire idea but Laura could see right through it. If Carmilla really hated the idea of having kids, she would have tried harder to never talk about it. Fortunately, Laura figured that seven years together must have been the perfect time to suggest starting a family because Carmilla said "yes".

She actually said "You win, buttercup" but that's not the point.

Before Laura could actually begin to pay any attention to the video that she was supposed to be dissecting, she heard four loud knocks on the front door of the office. She paused her video and quickly went over to the front door. When she unlocked the door, she came face to face with a young girl just a few inches shorter than herself. She wore rectangular glasses, was dressed in a green oversized wool cardigan, a loose beige button-down, burgundy corduroy pants, black suede ankle boots and a loose grey beanie atop her shoulder-length blonde hair. Her eyes were a piercing kind of blue and they popped out well in contrast to her pale complexion. To Laura this kid looked nothing like a vandal.

"Hey!" Laura greeted. She stuck out her hand for a handshake and the girl just stared at her. "Um…I'm Laura. I work here, and stuff. Who might you be?"

"Cohen." The girl replied. After an awkward silence, the girl continued to speak. "Look, I know you know why it is that I'm here, so let's skip the small stuff." The smaller blonde walked passed Laura, into the office and waited. "You got some stuff for me to do?" Laura simply nodded and led the girl to their makeshift library.

The office was the entire floor of the building but it was still really cramped because of all the boxes that still needed to be sorted and unpacked. This was the case since Laura and her journalist team had just moved into this venue a few weeks ago. Subsequently, their "library" was just a few rows of empty shelves, surrounded by even more boxes. When she and Cohen reached the library, Laura turned on the light and smiled.

"If you could just start by opening the boxes labelled 'library' or 'archives' and placing the books in order starting from…" Laura quickly surveyed the room before going any further, "…Oh! From over there, by the window! Yes, that should be good." Cohen followed her gaze and nodded.

"Sure." she replied, without further prompting. The girl started doing what Laura instructed. Immediately satisfied that Cohen was not going to cause any trouble, Laura went back to work.

It was nearing 2:00 p.m. and Laura felt as though she deserved a lunch break. She was on her way to the office's "lobby" when Cohen reappeared.

"Hey," she began, "I think I'm done with the shelves." Laura smiled at her.

"Cool. I was just about to order something on Uber Eats. Since you're done, though, want to join me in getting lunch?" Laura asked, casually. Cohen raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"You really want a 'vandal' to join you for lunch?" Cohen asked. Laura just shrugged her soldiers and laughed.

"When you put it that way, I shouldn't leave you here on your own." Laura stepped over to the door and held it open for Cohen to follow her. "Come on; I'm starving!" Cohen just shook her head but followed this strange yet super nice woman.

Laura and Cohen ended up having lunch at an Indian restaurant, a few minutes away from the office. The two started off having awkward single-response conversation but once the food came, everything got a bit easier and more free-flowing.

"So where do you go to school?" Laura asked, stuffing her face with food. Cohen smiled but then frowned. "I'm sorry – did I overstep?" the smaller blonde shook her head and was quick to correct her.

"Nah, don't worry. I'm sure you got a call from CAS, so you know that things are probably…" Cohen took a slow sip of her soda, "…not the best."

"Well, either way, I don't want to intrude."

"No," Cohen reassured, "It's fine. The Society's shrink encourages stuff like this. My sister, Levy, and I used to go to TMS, a private school North of the GTA. But after…what happened to our parents…we had to get pulled out and now we go to some random Public school." Cohen paused and she wore a confused expression. Laura laughed.

"You should probably remember what school you're going to."

"Meh, it's all the same."

"No arguments on my end," Laura said, taking a sip of her own drink. She was curious about the girls' parents but decided that it wasn't her business. Instead she decided to ask about the reason she was doing her community service hours. "So, tell me more about your 'vandal' reputation."

"It's not exactly 'my' reputation," Cohen explained, "but I feel like no one's going to believe the real story. So, I just said that I did it." Cohen stuffed her face with more food and Laura couldn't help but inquire a little bit further.

"You didn't do it?" Cohen paused and looked at Laura as if to say: 'really?'

"It doesn't matter," the smaller blonde said with a shake of her head, "it's over now."

"But like, you didn't have to do the community service then, if that were the case."

"I wouldn't…" Cohen said, sipping her drink, "but my sister would have." Laura nodded.

"So…tell me what went down." Laura said, leaning towards the girl, "I won't judge."

"Well," Cohen finished her food and sat back against her chair contentedly, "my sister has been some sort of 'rebelling wreck' after what happened. She's going through this random phase of staying out late and going to high school parties." Cohen sighed and looked out the window, not looking at Laura as she told the rest of her story, "One night, she said that we should sneak out to go to this one party and I decided that I should go to keep her in check. Unfortunately, the numbskull is horrible with directions and we gave up. We were on our way back to the housing unit, that CAS has us cooped up in, when we stumbled upon – what we now know is your building – and saw some dudes writing graffiti with spray paint." Cohen laughed, "I guess they were horrible delinquents because they saw us and immediately ran." Her giggling subsided and looked down at her hands in her lap. "And that's when it got complicated."

-two weeks prior-

" _Oh, hey! Coco; let's graffiti!" Levy stated, thinking she was the most brilliant person. Cohen just stared at her fraternal twin with disgust._

" _Dude, this whole 'badass' vibe doesn't suit you!" Cohen cried, trying to plead with the taller girl to stop being ridiculous. "Please, Lev, let's just go back to the shithole." The 'shithole' is what they had described their new living accommodations, provided by CAS. They were allowed to live in a supervised apartment with a personal support worker, who was basically 800 years old and wouldn't wake up – BUT STILL. Levy just rolled her eyes at her sister and smirked._

" _Fine." Levy stated, "You go back and I'll be here," for emphasis Levy picked up a spray can, shook it and proceeded to draw a happy face on the side of the building. Before Levy or Cohen could figure out what to say next, a Toronto Police squad car pulled up and blared its sirens. Levy dropped the paint can and Cohen swivelled around to face the cop as he got out of his car._

" _YOU," the policeman shouted, "STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"_

" _COHEN, RUN!" Levy instructed as she ran in the other direction. Cohen quickly thought about how much trouble Levy would be in. Their CAS worker had scolded Levy since day one about her attitude and rebellious actions. The worker threatened to separate them if Levy had one more run in with trouble and Cohen couldn't imagine being separated from Levy. Not after what had happened last month. Instead of running and allowing the cop to track down both her and her sister, Cohen stepped forward. The cop slowed down in front of her. She guessed that it was still kind of dark because the officer didn't notice a second person._

" _What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The cop asked. Cohen just shrugged and gestured to the wall._

" _Doing a little…redecorating." Cohen answered, crossing her arms. The cop scoffed._

" _Well, I'm sorry to end your little project, but you're gonna have to sit in the back of this car while I call your parents." Cohen laughed knowing that there weren't anymore parents that she could call. She chuckled a little causing the utmost confusion in the officer._

" _Good luck with that."_

-Present-

After hearing Cohen's summary of the night's events, Laura felt sympathy and a large amount of pride for this 14-year-old. She showed much more maturity than anyone Laura had ever met, even up until now. Laura felt like giving her a hug but just leaned in closer.

"Hey," she said and Cohen looked up from her lap, "for what it's worth, I think that was very noble and you are totally awesome for protecting your sister like that." Cohen smiled weakly.

"It still sucks."

-One Month Later-

Carmilla, Mel, LaF and Kirsch were taking a stroll on a lovely evening. Laura and Perry were at some wine and painting event, someplace in the extreme hipster part of the city. They had just finished watching a movie at Yonge and Dundas and were on their way to Fran's, a cozy 24-hour diner. They could totally call an Uber, or something, but it was really lovely out and they wanted to enjoy the prospect of taking a walk without Carmilla suffering from mild burning in the sunlight. It was about 11 o'clock but there was still quite a bit of cars going by.

"That was such an awesome movie!" Kirsch exclaimed, mostly with his arms, "I would totally see it again! OH! Maybe in 3D!" LaF nodded in agreement while Carmilla and Mel just scoffed.

"I really liked the visual effects! It reminded me of all our times with the alchemy club, at Silas!" LaF added and Kirsch just nodded along enthusiastically.

"Are you kidding?" Mel asked, "I'd much rather have let Carmilla run metal chopsticks through a fire and use them to eat my eyes like sushi." LaF, Kirsch and Carmilla all stopped in their tracks to just let the comment sink in. After a moment of silence, the three shook their heads and continued to walk behind Mel.

"No offense, but that doesn't sound very appetizing." Carmilla stated and Mel sighed dramatically.

"Oh, stuff it, Cullen-Stein; humour me once in a while!" before anyone could make any further comments, they suddenly heard a loud shriek that sounded like it was coming from right around the corner. The four friends looked at one another and without any verbal cues, all of them immediately ran towards the sound of distress.

They quickly rounded the corner to see a young blonde girl being cornered by three bulky looking men. There were a variety of groceries strewn around them and Carmilla assumed that this kid was just hitting up the convenience store for something to ease their munchies. One of the bulky men had grabbed the girl's t-shirt by its collar.

"Are you gonna tell us what we want or not, punk?!" the guy yelled in the girl's face. The girl just kept squirming, trying to get the grip on her shirt to loosen.

"LET ME GO, GUSTAV!" she screeched. The one called 'Gustav' wound his free arm back, as If he was getting ready to punch her.

"HEY, UGLY!" Kirsch yelled, getting the attention of the men, "WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND GET SOME?!" It sounded intimidating but Mel just shook her head.

"We really need to work on your phrasing, Kirsch." Before anything else could happen, Gustav punched the girl, square in her jaw and dropped her to the floor. Without further prompting, Carmilla barred her fangs and lunged at all three of the men. They screamed but kept running. Kirsch and Mel joined the pursuit while LaF stayed back to comfort the girl. LaF had just knelt down, next to the girl, who was coughing profusely. They pulled out their phone and quickly dialed 911.

"H-hello?" LaF said into the phone, as the dispatch operator answered, "Yes, I'd like to report an assault on O'Keefe Lane! QUICK! They're a minor!"

-About an Hour Later-

The gang was outside of the girl's hospital room. She had suffered some minor injuries and was knocked out by some pain meds. The girl had no real identification on her aside from a student card, which was turned over to the police. The cops asked the four friends to stay with her until they could get a hold of someone who knows where this girl lives and who she was.

"I know we should feel good about this," LaF began, "but still…nothing feels…okay." They looked up at their friends, "I'm getting that bad feeling again." Kirsch looked up from reading a Cosmopolitan magazine.

"Do you want me to find some Pepto-Bismol?" he asked, concerned. LaF just shook their head.

"No, not _that_ feeling. It's – It – It's kind of like when –!"

"When we went back to Styria to ghost hunt?" Mel said, filling in the blanks. LaF just nodded

their head solemnly.

"Yup." They agreed, "That's the feeling." Suddenly, the doctor came back into view. Carmilla stood and walked towards them.

"Any news?" She asked, concerned. The doctor just shook her head.

"Unfortunately, I still can't give much more information because none of you are her family." The doctor said, placing a consoling hand on Carmilla's wrist. "The police have identified her though, and I spoke to their guardian on the phone. They are on the way, if you want to sit tight." Carmilla opened her mouth to say something, but then peered over the doctor's shoulder to see Laura and Perry come through the doors. The doctor repeated themselves and Carmilla apologized.

"Yes, sorry, I-we'll stay until the family arrives." The doctor nodded and went into the girl's room to check on her status. Soon after, Laura wrapped her arms around Carmilla and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"When LaF called us, and said you guys were on route to the hospital, I-I didn't know what to think!" The blonde said, worriedly. Carmilla smiled.

"Don't worry, everyone's fine." She kissed Laura on the forehead, "Even the girl that we…tried to rescue." Carmilla said solemnly and Laura placed a hand on her partner's cheek.

"Hey, you _did_ save her." The blonde reassured, "Even though she has some injuries, she's alive. And safe." Another kiss was placed on Carmilla's face and the vampire couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah." She sighed. The doctor emerged from the room and addressed Mel, LaF, Carmilla and Kirsch.

"She would like to talk to you; all of you." The doctor said with a smile, before leaving the group alone. Without further hesitation, the group headed into the room.

The young girl was sitting up straight in the bed looking perfectly fine, as if she hadn't just been beat down by a group of weird men on a Tuesday evening. It was here, in the light, that the group could actually see her features properly. She had long dirty blonde hair that fell over her left shoulder, piercing blue eyes and a slightly sun-kissed complexion. She had the brightest smile as the group entered the room.

"Hey!" the girl said excitedly. She tried to scoot up to the foot of the bed but immediately winced. LaF and Carmilla rushed to her side.

"Maybe you shouldn't move so much." LaF suggested, "Your head still looks way too bruised. Are you concussed?" the girl shook her head and winced again. LaF chuckled, "Yeah, I'll take that as a 'maybe'."

"Well, better this than…whatever else could have happened." The girl mumbled. She looked around the room and smiled a genuine smile at her heroes. "Thanks for…not letting me get beat to death. You didn't have to." Mel, Carmilla, Kirsch and LaF all chuckled.

"Yeah well," Mel began, "it's been kind of our thing, lately." Before the girl could comment, Perry jumped in.

"Not that we regularly make a habit of fighting complete and utter strangers in the middle of the night, on weekdays!" Everyone just stared at the woman with their eyebrows furrowed.

"Seriously?" LaF asked their best friend, "After literally everything?"

"And yeah, we kind of had to." Carmilla added, changing the subject. "We weren't gonna let some screaming kid fend for themselves."

"Well thanks, Justice League." The girl joked, causing everyone to laugh a little, "I'll be sure to speak highly of you." Before anything else could be said, the doctor came in followed by a taller figure. They were dressed in black, with a permanent scowl on their face. Immediately the room's atmosphere had changed and it was most noticeable on the girl's face.

"Levy…" the tall figure began.

"Gina." The girl addressed. Before 'Gina' could say anything, another person burst through between the doctor and the door frame. It was another blonde girl with shorter, messier, hair and glasses. She immediately rushed to the girl's bedside excitedly.

"LEVY!"

"COHEN!" the two girls hugged and Laura stepped closer to the two of them.

"Cohen?" she asked and the shorter girl turned around.

"Laura?"

"Kirsch!" Everyone turned towards the tall man and he just shrugged. "What? I watched a Shrek marathon the other day. Can't miss an opportunity." Laura shook her head and addressed Cohen again.

"What – what are you doing here?"

"This is my sister; Levy."

"You know them, Cupcake?" Carmilla asked, pretty baffled by the coincidence. Laura shrugged.

"Well," Laura pointed to the girl with shorter hair and glasses, "I know Cohen. She did some volunteering for my office because of spray-painting the side of the building." Both Laura and Cohen looked towards Levy, knowingly, as the girl just slumped against her pillow. "Anyway, she's finished her hours so I hadn't seen her since last week."

"So…" Cohen began, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"These guys, who saved your sister, are my friends." Laura placed a hand on the shorter blonde's shoulder as she gestured around the room. "This is my partner, Carmilla, and our friends; Kirsch, LaFontaine, Perry and Mel." Cohen smiled at everyone.

"I'm…I'm just so happy. Thanks for sticking up for Levy." She hugged Laura and Carmilla making them blush. Gina coughed obnoxiously, getting everyone's attention.

"I hate to break up this festival of love and peace, but I need to speak with miss Levy about –!" Gina was suddenly cut off by Cohen.

"NO, Gina! We don't want to hear it!"

"Regardless of whether or not you want to hear it, I have to talk about your father's old 'friends' trying to attack and kidnap your sister!" Gina said sternly, "You and your sister are in grave danger! The CAS needs to relocate you both." Gina sighed and looked almost as if she was going to regret how forceful her tone was. "Separately."

"NO!" Levy and Cohen screeched, collectively. Cohen ran to her sister, and snuggled up beside her.

"I'm NOT going to let you take her away from me!" Levy cried, wrapping her arms around her smaller counterpart. Gina sighed.

"Would you two stop this?!" Gina said, exasperatedly, "I don't want to have to do this, but your information in CAS is apparently being leaked. Your parents' enemies are honing in on the source and until we figure out how they are doing that, we've got to get you kids into better hiding."

"But I'll never see her again," Cohen sobbed into her sister's shoulder, "I-I-I can't – I won't – I can't lose her too!" the twins began to cry together. The other adults in the room couldn't help but just watch as these two kids had their lives being torn in half.

"The system isn't safe enough for the both of you." Gina said, running her hands down the side of her slacks, "It wouldn't be worth it if you both showed up on the morning news, dead." The twins continued to cry, pretty much ignoring whatever Gina was reasoning. Probably due to the heartbreak unfolding in front of her, mixed with profound feelings of protecting Cohen and Levy, Laura spoke up.

"What if they weren't in the system?" Laura asked, as everyone turned to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Gina asked for clarification.

"Well…if the information that is being leaked is tied to everything that you guys are doing…maybe they can just go under the radar." Gina pondered the thought.

"The only thing left is foster homes, but those are publicly listed under our connections and for security reasons."

"What if…" Laura closed her eyes, looking like she almost regretted her big mouth, "they didn't go to a registered foster home? What if they went under the radar into something like…like witness protection? But not actually witness protection." Carmilla chose now to intervene.

"Laura…" Carmilla started, "what are you suggesting?" Laura's eyes pleaded with Carmilla and the vampire shook her head. "Laura, no." Laura took one look at Cohen and Levy huddled together and completely ignored her vampire lover.

"They can stay with us."

"What?!" Mel, Perry, LaF, Kirsch and Carmilla collectively asked, shocked. Levy and Cohen sat up, still kind of sobbing, but curious as to what Gina would say.

"That's…probably not good for liability purposes." Gina said.

"But they wouldn't have to be in a system." Laura argued, "Just leave them with us; pretend they went out of province instead of actually sending them out of province!" Gina shook her head and so did Carmilla. "Don't separate them."

"I'd have to run it by my supervisor but that honestly doesn't sound like the worst idea." Gina shrugged her shoulders. "It's all we've got at this point." Gina took out her phone and went outside. LaF, Perry, Mel and Kirsch decided to exit the room and let Laura and Carmilla sort out their…plans.

"Come on," Perry said, leading the way, "I saw a vending machine…somewhere!"

"Cool!" Mel and Kirsch said, tugging LaF along with them. Once the door was closed Carmilla lost it.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Carmilla asked her partner, "We can't just randomly adopt kids out of the blue like this?! What happened to 'we'll do everything together, Carm'?!"

"I-I know, I'm sorry!" Laura said, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "I…I don't know." She looked over at Levy and Cohen. "I just don't want them to get separated." Carmilla sighed and placed her hands on top of Laura's.

"I know you just want to help, but this isn't our fight."

"Yeah, Laura…" Cohen said, hesitantly, "we appreciate it…but we don't want to –!"

"We don't want to ruin anything else." Levy said, cutting off her sister. Levy looked up at Carmilla, completely by accident and the vampire felt something along the lines of sympathy. She vaguely remembered when she thought that Mattie was gone forever and knew that Levy and Cohen would feel something like that. Carmilla sighed heavily. Vampires aren't supposed to feel sympathy but they aren't supposed to fall madly in love with humans either. Carmilla pulled Laura up, to stand. Laura was a little confused.

"Let's talk over here for a sec." the raven-haired vampire gently tugged Laura along with her. Once they were by the door, Carmilla looked Laura in her eyes. "Okay. Tell me exactly what you think is going to happen if Tall, Dark and Righteous decides to give Thing One and Thing Two to us." Laura quickly composed herself and prepared to outline her thought process.

"I just…Cohen's a sweet kid and I'd hate for them to be separated. If anything, they can just be safe with us until…whatever it is with their parents blows over. It's, obviously, putting them in danger." Laura gestured over her shoulder to where Levy was lying down. "Maybe being surrounded by a few paranormal nutjobs, a weapons enthusiast, a walking brick wall and an immortal being isn't such a bad idea for their safety. Besides, they're 14. They'll be old enough to go to school or just buzz off at that point. I just don't want them to be a part."

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Carmilla sighed, "Hey, Twerps," Carmilla addressed them, much to Laura's disapproval. Levy and Cohen both looked up, "anyone have a problem doing chores?" the two of them looked at one another and turned back to face Carmilla, shaking their heads. "Okay, sold."

Carmilla swiftly turned around to open the door. She walked out into the hallway and was now face to face with Gina. The CAS worker had just put away her phone.

"So, what's the deal?" the vampire asked. Gina cleared her throat and took a step back.

"You don't even know what you're getting yourselves into." The worker said rather ominously. Laura and Carmilla just looked at one another.

"What do you mean?" Laura questioned.

"Do you have any idea who those kids are?" Everyone looked around the room and just shook their heads. Gina turned to face Kirsch and Mel, "You do local news, don't you?" they nodded, "What's been circulating the last few months?"

"The story of...the firefighter that got high and climbed the mast of a yacht, at the waterfront?" Kirsch responded.

"No, Burrito for Brains," Mel replied, punching her colleague in his shoulder, "I think she's talking about the Scott case." Gina just nodded.

"What do you know about Terrance and Gloria Scott?" Gina quizzed. Perry began to speak up.

"Well…they've been smuggling young girls over the border to join the sex-trade. Apparently, they were a very rich business power couple on Bay Street. They were convicted exactly three months ago. I don't know anything else –!"

"Scott." LaF said, cutting off Perry. They then turned to Gina, "Can I see Levy's student card?" Gina laughed and tossed the card at LaF. The scientist gulped as they read the card aloud. "Student ID at Marshall Thompson Secondary School; Number 100893422…Levy Scott…" LaF then looked up at their friends.

"And the reason we have issues is that those men who were following Levy tonight," Gina stated, looking at Laura, "were Terrance and Gloria's business deals gone wrong. They will stop at nothing to get those girls killed. Are you still considering taking them in?" Gina questioned. Carmilla just looked at Laura, already knowing the answer. Laura wasn't 100 percent sure, but when has that ever stopped her before? This was what she was used to; this was her next mission.

"Absolutely." Laura said, getting all up in Gina's personal space. "I won't let you permanently separate these girls, after everything they've been through. They deserve to be kept safe and kept together." Carmilla chuckled as the madness unfolded.

"That's my Cupcake."

"Well," Gina began, "the Children's Aid Society, because of all the other stuff that we have to deal with, are willing to let the Scott twins cohabit with you and your partner." Laura smiled, "BUT you do have to pass the home inspection. I'll set up an inspection date for Friday; Call me at this number tomorrow." Gina ordered, handing a card to Laura. "Until then," Gina said, going into the room where the girls were. After a moment of silence, the group heard some feet shuffling and soon, Gina reappeared with Cohen. "Cohen will be staying at this address" Gina said, handing a card over to Carmilla. "while Levy stays in the hospital. I've contacted Toronto police, and they'll be guarding this floor." As Gina turned to leave, Cohen turned around and ran straight for Laura, hugging her tightly around her midsection.

"Thank you." The young girl said before unlatching herself from the journalist and following Gina to the elevator. Once Gina and Cohen were officially gone, there was a collective sigh of relief from everyone except Perry.

"Did you not just hear her?!" Perry said, in frantic Perry-likeness, "These girls are targeted by a few, if not, hundreds of their parents' scorned 'business trades'!"

"We have nothing to worry about," Laura said wrapping an arm around Carmilla, "I have a successful small business and Carmilla is studying while working for the Art Gallery; we'll be golden!"

"Not so fast, Angelina Jolie," Mel stated, getting everyone's attention, "you seem to be forgetting some important facts, about your life."

"Like what?" Laura asked. Carmilla placed a hand on her shoulder and decided to fill in the blanks for her partner.

"Yeah, we'll be totally fine…except for the fact that we have access to over a dozen weapons, tons of supernatural equipment, all our history is documented online AND our apartment is full of blood because I'm a vampire." Laura balled her fists and sighed; she had completely forgotten about things in her life that could, potentially, be a child safety hazard and ruin their chances at having Cohen and Levy live at their home.

"Oh crap."


	2. Chapter 2

_Previously…_

" _Did you not just hear her?!" Perry said, in frantic Perry-likeness, "These girls are targeted by a few, if not, hundreds of their parents' scorned 'business trades'!"_

" _We have nothing to worry about," Laura said wrapping an arm around Carmilla, "I have a successful small business and Carmilla is studying while working for the Art Gallery; we'll be golden!"_

" _Not so fast, Angelina Jolie," Mel stated, getting everyone's attention, "you seem to be forgetting some important facts, about your life."_

" _Like what?" Laura asked. Carmilla placed a hand on her shoulder and decided to fill in the blanks for her partner._

" _Yeah, we'll be totally fine…except for the fact that we have access to over a dozen weapons, tons of supernatural equipment, all our history is documented online AND our apartment is full of blood because I'm a vampire." Laura balled her fists and sighed; she had completely forgotten about things in her life that could, potentially, be a child safety hazard and ruin their chances at having Cohen and Levy live at their home._

" _Oh crap."_

-That Friday-

Laura had been cleaning and organizing non-stop since Thursday afternoon, much to Carmilla's disapproval. The vampire admired her girlfriend for being so dedicated, driven and caring but she wished that Laura would just calm down. Carmilla didn't think a wound-up Laura would impress Gina in the slightest.

"Okay," Laura said, after dusting their fireplace and straightening every photo, "I think everything's good." She turned around to face Carmilla who was just lounging on the couch with an eyebrow raised. Carmilla smirked and pointed at the top of the television.

"What about the top of that?" Laura looked to where she was pointing and groaned.

"Maybe you should get it, since you noticed." Laura said, tossing the feather duster at the vampire. Carmilla caught it and got up to stand next to her partner. She gently placed the feather duster on the fireplace and put her hands on both of Laura's shoulders.

"You're being ridiculous, right now." Carmilla said, in a soothing voice, "Maybe, instead of giving yourself high blood pressure by stressing over this inspection, you should relax." Carmilla placed a reassuring, and much needed, kiss on Laura's lips. Laura sighed and laid her head on Carmilla's shoulder. "I think that we should just take a seat, watch some lame TV, and patiently wait for –!"

And then there was three loud knocks on their door.

"Well, fuck me I guess." Carmilla groaned causing Laura to laugh.

"We can relax after the inspection." Laura said, quickly running to the door. Carmilla just shook her head and braced herself for more of Laura's antics.

Before opening the front door, Laura straightened out her blouse and took a deep breath. Once she felt that she was composed enough to carry on a conversation, she opened the door to reveal Gina and a smaller woman with a clipboard.

"Afternoon, Gina!" Laura greeted and stuck out her hand for a handshake. Gina eyed her before shaking Laura's hand. Carm just offered a curt nod when the workers acknowledged her.

"Miss Hollis and Miss Karnstein." Gina replied, placidly. "This is my colleague, Angela Moir. She is another CAS worker and will be writing everything down, during this walk-through." The small woman, named Angela, gave a tiny wave and went back to looking at her clipboard.

"Wonderful," Laura said with a smile, "thank you both for coming."

"Now, I'm not going to be playing any games." Gina said, sternly, "I know that you both know this is an extremely expedited process, compared to the actual public adoption process in Ontario." Carmilla and Laura looked at one another.

"We are definitely aware." Carmilla said flatly, eyeballing Laura. Choosing to ignore the comment, the petite blonde continued to smile and nod.

"Yes, we understand." Laura agreed.

"Very well." Gina walked around the couple and began to proceed into the living room. As she walked through, she signalled for Angela to begin writing and taking notes. After just walking around the living room and the kitchen, Gina just started talking at Carmilla and Laura. "After discussing the issue with a judge, and multiple members of the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, they have agreed to push forward on this notion of the girls 'going under the radar'." Gina turned to face Carmilla, "Despite the fact that you are a vampire, everyone seemed to be okay with you and Miss Hollis looking after Cohen and Levy. That vampire rights advocate friend of yours placed quite a hefty amount of emphasis on that matter." Gina pulled out a stool, from the island and sat on it, facing the couple. "The government also knows exactly what you two do for a living and how much you make, so I'm not going to ask any of those questions. What I am going to ask about is scheduling and accommodations." Gina cleared her throat, "Let's start with scheduling then."

"Perfect!" Laura exclaimed. She loved planning and such. She pulled out her phone and searched for her notes. "Carmilla has classes online, for the most part, and works during the afternoons from noon to six on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. My schedule is Monday to Friday; the regular nine to five, but on Fridays, I have the choice of working from home since our official hours of operation are Monday to Thursday." Laura paused a little, waiting for any objections from Gina. When there were none, she cleared her throat and kept going. "Since they will be going under the radar, I assume that they'll be relocating schools to which I suggest any of the three schools that we are currently in the middle of. All institutions are accessible by public transit and just good old-fashioned walking. However, due to all this craziness, Carm has opted to change her schedule to nine until two so she can drop-off and pick-up the girls." Laura chose now to nudge Carm, so that the vampire could at least pretend that this wasn't entirely ridiculous.

"We read the files you sent us and we noticed that the kids are pretty involved in sports and choir and stuff like that. We decided that if the twerp – twins – decide that they want to do some extra-curriculars, I'm fine with doing pick-up and drop-off still. Just so long as they are safe." Carmilla sighed, "I just want them safe and not being kidnapped." The vampire said honestly. Although this was very much Laura's plan, she didn't want the kids to get hurt. Gina looked to her colleague and they both began to whisper back and forth. Carmilla looked at Laura and the blonde just interlocked their hands together. The raven-haired vampire could feel Laura's accelerated pulse through her fingertips and squeezed Laura's hand for reassurance.

"Where will they be sleeping?" Angela asked in a much lighter tone than Gina's.

Laura smiled and led them towards, what used to be, their shared office space. "Carm and I used to use this for a shared office, but we decided to just leave most of our stuff at work and use our laptops at home." It was a decent sized room, perfect for a bunk bed or two twin sized beds. Laura implored the help of Kirsch and Danny to rearrange the desks that were originally in here in order to give the girls a shared workspace. There was now just a bright yellow room with a bookshelf, a long desk with two office chairs and a big window. The walls had some basic paintings on them and there was also a closet with an installed divider. Carmilla gestured to the wall plugs.

"There's two wall plugs on each side and we bought one of those extension blocks so they can enjoy their electronics." The vampire explained. "We ordered the beds from IKEA; they should be coming in at some time today." Angela smiled and wrote some more things down in her notes.

"You've put some thought into the amenities," Angela praised, "very nice, on such short notice!" the small woman then turned towards Gina. There was another round of questions, and then came the issue of custody.

"The girls are going M.I.A., so we need to talk about name changes. You two are not married, so it's not that easy. The girls are fine with whatever; Cohen just shrugged when I asked and Levy said…" Gina took out her own notes and smiled, "'I'd change my name right now if it means I don't share a name with those mongrels!'" Carmilla chuckled in response.

"Glad to know kids are still using the word 'mongrels.'" The vampire said.

"She actually used a different word, but because I have to write everything down, I changed it." Gina answered. "But yes, any ideas as to what name they'll be taking?" Gina questioned. Laura furrowed her brows in confusion; she hadn't thought about that part. "Let me put it this way," Gina offered, "Who wants to be their sole guardian?" Carmilla and Laura looked at one another.

"Maybe we can just have each of them take a different name." Carmilla brainstormed. "They're fraternal after all. One could be Karnstein and the other, Hollis." Laura beamed and squeezed the vampire's shoulders.

"Good idea Carm! That does make sense for the whole 'hide them in plain sight' thing!" Laura added. Angela nodded and wrote this down.

"Perfect!" Angela said, triumphantly.

"We ask that you both, once this is all finalized, take them to get new passports and health-care cards." Gina instructed. "The government's witness protection sector will dispose of their old identifications properly. Now that we have the preferred names, they can already begin providing the girls with new Social Insurance Numbers." Laura nodded and made a note on her phone.

"Anything else?" Laura asked, anxiously.

"No, everything is fine for now. We will bring the papers when we bring the girls." Angela answered before turning towards Gina. "I think the girls will be fine here." Angela admitted to her colleague. "Cohen is already very taken with Miss Hollis." Gina just rolled her eyes and turned to face Carmilla and Laura.

"Levy is still in recovery mode, but she will be released from the hospital at 5 o'clock, tomorrow." Angela informed the couple, "She'll be escorted here by Gina, shortly thereafter, and I'll arrange for Cohen to be brought in around the same time so that they'll be here together."

"Excellent!" Laura exclaimed, "Can't wait! Thank you so much, you guys."

"No," Gina chuckled ominously, "Thank you." And with that, the workers were out of the apartment.

"Ugh," Carmilla groaned, closing the door behind the workers, "What a creep."

"She's nothing that we aren't used to, that's for sure." The blonde said, plopping down onto the little bench they had, by the door. Carmilla sat down, next to her, resting her head on Laura's shoulder. After a few moments of silence, the gravity of the entire situation began to settle in Laura's mind.

They have just been approved by a public adoption agency.

They went through an express version of adoption because of government-based circumstances.

They were adopting the 14-year-old daughters of convicted felons.

They were adopting.

They were basically, sort of, kind of government-approved parents.

They were basically parents.

Laura jolted upright, and turned to face her partner who looked as un-phased and collected as she usually was.

"OH. MY. GOD." Laura exclaimed, in shock. "We just adopted two people!" Carmilla laughed and got up to wrap her arms around her crazy person. The vampire placed a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek.

"And where exactly have you been this whole time, cutie?"

"I can't believe we're doing this." Laura said, running her hands through her hair. Carmilla couldn't help but laugh at Laura's extremely delayed panic attack over this matter.

"Of course, you'd freak out _after_ we ordered new furniture, essentially self-fumigated the apartment and signed everything." The vampire said with a roll of her eyes. Laura proceeded to freak out, completely ignoring her girlfriend.

"Why did I do this? Are we even cut out for this?! What's my dad going to say?!" Carmilla just laughed and put her hands-on Laura's shoulders.

"Cupcake, your tantrums are as adorable as ever, and you know that I absolutely love how flustered you can be. But sweetie, it's a little too late to back out now." Carmilla soothed, slowly kneading the shorter woman's shoulders. Laura exhaled slowly, trying to calm her own nerves. Carm was right; she couldn't back out of this deal. "And hey; we did it. We kept the twerps from being separated and I think that's a pretty good accomplishment for the Hollis book of records." The vampire praised causing Laura to scoff. "Now why don't you sit down, relax, and I'll figure out what to do for dinner time." Laura rolled her eyes, smiling from ear to ear. Carmilla was always very good at bringing her back down to Earth and she would always be thankful for that.

-The Next Day-

Levy was just packing up her things from the "shithole", since her dispatch from the hospital. She had no idea where Cohen was and was just instructed by Gina to pack her things and get ready to be picked up. It was such a weird fucking day and this tween had had enough of the government just bouncing them around from place to place. Levy was not at all surprised that the Children's Aid Society was compromised, allowing their information to be leaked. She knew that the government was weird; she heard her dad talk about how dumb they were.

She halted her packing and considered about her last thought. How could she, after all this time, still be thinking like her stupid father? In the heat of the moment, more likely due to her anger about her parents and not from her head injury, she threw her wallet across the room and fell to the floor, shaking. She wasn't crying; she felt like she was out of tears.

She ran her hands through her dirty blonde hair, just tired and sick of all this nonsense. As much as she's always hated how her mom had treated her, and how big of a douche-hole dad was, she missed the regular life she had. Her days began with a "Good morning, Amelia!" to their live-in caregiver, then they went to school. After school, Cohen would have ballet and Levy had either rugby or hockey. Once they finished, a limo would bring them home, they'd have dinner (sometimes with mom and dad) do homework, go to bed, then finally repeat! Life was pretty good for the Scott twins and it all came crashing down because their parents were as bad as Levy had originally thought.

How good could they have been if, for the better part of 14 years, they had stuffed their kids away with a caregiver? How good could they have been if they never went to Cohen's ballet recitals? How good could they have possiblybeen if they never saw Levy play a game _once_?!

Levy just sighed and got back up to continue her packing. It was almost 7 o'clock and Gina was coming to get her and bring her someplace. Levy had asked the annoying woman if Cohen would also be coming and she replied "yes" which was the only reasoning that she needed to get her shit together. At this point, Cohen was all that Levy had left; she was her best friend. Despite how messed up Levy was, Cohen never gave up on her and that was truly admirable.

Levy Mauricia Scott; member of student council at the Toronto Montessori School, leader of the debate team, MVP junior hockey player…overall pretty stellar rep the last few years. It was all gone now. Levy sighed and continued to pack her things slowly when she heard the door to the apartment open followed by the lovely (so not lovely) sound of Gina's voice. The blonde rolled her eyes the moment Gina's shrill of annoyance graced her eardrums.

"Levy," Gina bellowed, "are you ready?!" Levy exhaled in irritation but answered anyway.

"Yes!"

"Come down here, the car's waiting!" Levy huffed and threw her purple duffle bag over her shoulder. Once that was secure, she quickly zipped up her suitcase and tugged it off the bed, letting the wheels hit the floor with a rather loud thud. "What the Hell was that?!" Gina asked, after the noise.

"My life crashing through the floorboards!" Levy replied.

"Stop being dramatic and just get down here!" Gina yelled, from the bottom of the stairs. "I have something for you!"

Reluctantly, Levy trudged out of the room with her suitcase in tow. She didn't even bother to look around and at the place because she honestly hated every second of being here. Not wanting to be here any longer, and also curious about receiving something, the young blonde rushed out of her room and bounded down the stairs.

"Careful," Gina said, taking her suitcase from her at the bottom of the stairs, "you'll hurt yourself." Levy shrugged and Gina just rolled her eyes. "Here." Gina said, handing over an envelope to Levy.

"What's this?" Levy said, even though she was already in the process of opening it.

"It's your new SIN Card." Gina explained, "You've got yourself a new last name and a new place to live, with Cohen." Levy's eyes widened. She didn't believe that they had already approved the adoption.

"Are you serious?" Levy was in a weird state of confusion, anxiousness, relief and overall…yeah fuck it, she was nervous.

"Yes. When you and Cohen handed over your IDs, the Ministry wanted the adoption to be finalized so they could give you and Cohen last names, for the new documents." Levy was too happy to be going somewhere with her sister. Perhaps she could get back on track to having a regular life. Finally getting the card out of the packaging, Levy read her new name and was puzzled.

"Levy Mauricia Karnstein?"

-Some Time Later in a Car-

"My new name is Cohen Adelia Hollis!" said the short-haired twin, doing some weird hand gesture and almost knocking her glasses off of her face.

"What?!" Levy exclaimed, reaching for her sister's card, "We aren't related?!"

"Huh? Whatchu talkin' bow, Willis?" Cohen said in a weird voice.

"My last name's Karnstein, not Hollis."

"Aw, shit Boo." Cohen said, looking at Levy's card. "Wait…Angie?" Cohen asked the social worker.

"Yes?"

"Are…we living at two separate places?" the spectacled twin asked. The worker just chuckled and shook her head.

"No, your adoptive family is just not married." Angela explained, "To make it easier, they said to give you each one of their last names. It was also a better tactic to keep you both under the radar." Levy nodded in agreement, satisfied with the reasoning while Cohen smiled from ear to ear.

"DUDE!" Cohen exclaimed, "I should like dye my hair and shit too!" Levy chuckled at her sister.

"What are we? Going undercover?"

"Yeah man! I feel like James Bond!" Levy rolled her eyes.

"You'd totally be more like Johnny English." Levy said, looking out of her window. Angela and Gina continued to laugh at the conversation they were overhearing while Cohen just furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Who the fuck is Johnny English?"

-Laura & Carmilla's Apartment-

"GAH – It's almost 8 o'clock!" Laura said in frustration, "Levy's supposed to be out of the hospital at 5 o'clock. I hope they're okay."

"Cupcake; Levy has to pack and stuff. I'm certain she didn't anticipate getting relocated before she got cornered by thugs." The vampire reasoned, sipping Hemo Soy from a wine glass nonchalantly. "And they wanted to bring Cohen here at the same time, so they probably got stuck in traffic, or something." Laura sighed and plopped down on the sofa beside her girlfriend.

"You're right." Laura said, shifting her body so that her head was resting on Carmilla's lap. The vampire took a sip of her drink while gently running her free hand through Laura's hair. "I'm just so nervous."

The couple spent about two hours putting together the bunk bed in the girls' room. The bed can be taken apart and used as two separate beds, but they decided to stack it just to make sure it could actually be used as a bunk bed. They were exhausted and had already eaten some food. They were going to wait for the girls but decided not force them into a "family dinner" on their first night. Carm even suggested that it would be better to give them their space for a bit; letting them come around on their own. For someone who wasn't a complete fan of being thrown into parenthood, Carmilla was doing a magnificent job of making good decisions about the matter.

"I feel like you're going to be the one with really good judgement calls for this stuff." Laura said, snuggling against her girlfriend. Carmilla just scoffed.

"Don't get your hopes up, Hollis." Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Carmilla swore that she had never seen Laura move so fast in her life. The small blonde smoothed out her blouse and her skirt and checked her hair. Carmilla just remained on her spot, continuing to watching Maury. Laura took a deep breath and opened the door to reveal the twins and their social workers, Gina and Angela. Laura smiled and ushered them inside.

"Anyone want a drink? Something to eat?" Laura asked them. The two workers shook their heads.

"No thank you, Miss Hollis." Gina said.

"I'm quite alright." Replied Angela, "We simply came here to drop of the girls and some more things for you and Miss Karnstein to sign." Laura clapped her hands together.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed. "Come into the kitchen; you can sort out the papers there." Angela and Gina nodded and proceeded to the kitchen. Laura was now left with Cohen and Levy. Levy just stared at her while Cohen lunged at her and pulled her into a hug.

"You're so awesome, Laura!" Cohen said, and Laura felt her heart melt.

"You aren't so bad yourself, Cohen." Laura said, hugging the smaller girl. After hugging Cohen, Laura smiled at Levy. "Hey, look at you! You're not in the hospital anymore!" Levy smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, but I kinda miss the bed." After her comment, she yawned and rubbed her eye with her palm.

"Oh, then here – Carm?" Laura called out and soon the vampire was in view. "Can you help them with their stuff?" Carm nodded and slung both of their duffle bags over her shoulders and leisurely picked up both of their suitcases. Cohen and Levy just stared at this average-sized person who could casually just left 100 pounds of baggage like it was nothing.

"Someone eats their vegetables." Cohen commented causing Laura to laugh. The twins followed Carmilla to their new space while Laura went into the kitchen to speak with Gina and Angela.

Cohen and Levy were very intrigued by the raven-haired woman in front of them. They had only heard about vampires because of the "vampire rights" movement going on. They had never seen one nor spoken to one until Carmilla. They were so curious but they didn't exactly know how to start a conversation about that.

"Alright, Twerps," Carmilla said, tossing all their shit on the ground, in the girls' new room, "This is your new room."

"SICK!" Cohen exclaimed, "A BUNK BED!" she looked over her shoulder at her sibling, "I call top bunk!" she declared running for the bed.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" before Levy could follow her sister, to stop her, Carmilla placed a hand on Levy's shoulder.

"Calm down, Evel Knievel," Carm warned, "We don't want you having to go back into the hospital." Levy frowned but suddenly felt her head spin a little. She hadn't completely recovered from her head injury so she merely sighed and pointed a cautionary finger at her sister, who was already perched on the top bunk.

"You win this time, scumbag." Levy snarled causing the other twin to laugh.

"Only scumbags sleep on the bottom bunk!" Cohen replied, sticking her tongue out. Carmilla scoffed; these two were going to be a riot.

The vampire let the girls continue to look around the room and get settled while she just watched from her position in the doorway. She was quietly observing them, watching them interact. They seemed like okay kids; not too much of trouble-makers. Carmilla asked Laura about the vandalism thing and the small blonde had explained everything to her. _How fitting that the Cupcake ends up connecting with someone just as noble and good-hearted_ , the vampire thought. Although she should be more concerned with taking in complete strangers, Carmilla couldn't help but be worried about the very thing that kept her from getting excited about Laura wanting to start a family.

After all her years of being a tormented walking corpse, that ironically craved sustenance from the very thing that provides life, she had never once thought that she'd be in this position. Parenthood, biological or not, did not have any significant meaning to her. Her father, as so eloquently put many times prior, did not care until she was old enough to be traded as livestock. Her adoptive mother used her, continuously and mercilessly, as a pawn in her hell-bound chess game. She was worried that she'd end up being the cold step-mother to Laura's nurturing mama bear. If Carmilla has learned anything from her 300+ years of existence is that she hated being rejected (subsequently, from the same backstory, she also developed some form of claustrophobia but that was a separate thing).

"Okay, twerps; time to lay down some ground rules." Carmilla said, snapping herself out of her own internal fear-based trance. Levy was sitting on one of the office chairs, further from the door, and Cohen was on the top bunk, letting her head dangle off of it. Both were looking at Carmilla expectantly. "So, I don't really have much of an issue with loud music or any type of shit like that. But what I do have a problem with is the fact that you two are almost as wanted as your parents. I hate to be _that_ person, but it would suck ass if you two turned up dead on our watch. So whatever type of schedule or curfew Laura comes up with, please respect it for now." She then pointed the finger at Levy, who just raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "Laura told me about the graffiti story. Badass, I like it. But I don't want you guys dead." Levy just nodded in agreement and Cohen giggled, possibly due to the blood rush she was giving herself by pretending to be a bat. "Now then, any questions for me?" Carmilla watched as the taller one began to think, gently tapping her fingers against the desk.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Levy asked and Carmilla smiled. She had a feeling the buggers couldn't resist.

"I'm 340 years old and was killed when I was 18. I'm sure you've got a calculator or something. Next question."

"What was it like being lesbian in the 1600's?" Cohen questioned, still hanging upside down. That question threw Carmilla for a loop.

"It sucked ass." Was Carmilla's short reply, "Next." Levy tapped her index finger against her chin.

"Is everything about vamps true?" the tall blonde inquired, "Like the whole no sunlight, no garlic, turns into a bat type deal?"

"More like minimal sunlight, no garlic and turns into a panther."

"Cool!" Levy exclaimed. The vampire smirked.

"I know."

"I like your choker," Cohen complimented, finally sitting up, "can I borrow it?"

"No."

"What?! Whyyyyyy?" Cohen whined.

"Fun fact; I don't like to share."

"Pssh. Lame." With that, Cohen jumped off the bed and onto the floor with a thud. Levy laughed and Carmilla just rolled her eyes.

"If you Poptarts are done enjoying the view, I'll show you guys the rest of this place." Carmilla offered, walking into the hallway. Levy and Cohen looked at one another, shrugged, and got up to follow the vampire.

While Carmilla was giving the twins a house tour, Laura was in the kitchen with Angela and Gina. The social workers were going over more information with Laura.

"Yesterday, after the inspection, I got a hold of the nearby schools and Greenwood Secondary replied the fastest." Gina said, handing the information over to Laura. The blonde began to read through the school's viewbook as Angela highlighted the important parts.

"They have a variety of varsity level sports teams, for Levy, and a very competitive arts reputation, for Cohen. Greenwood is also just 8 minutes away from here, by walking, and 4 minutes by bus." Laura nodded at Angela, just relieved that she didn't have to go scouting schools on her own.

"They are registered. All that's left is for their parent to sign off on the forms." Gina added.

"But they're in – oh!" Laura had almost forgotten that she was the new 'parent'. "Right. Yes, I'll sign it when I drop them off, on Tuesday."

"Doesn't school start on a Monday?" Carmilla questioned, walking into the kitchen. Trailing behind her were the twins. Laura smiled because she thought that they looked calmer than before.

"There's a long weekend." Gina answered. Carmilla tried her hardest to think of a holiday.

"For what?" she asked.

"Something about a dead politician, some place." Gina replied. Carmilla just shrugged; she could live with that.

"Sweet! No school Monday!" Cohen said, offering her sister a high five. Levy just stared at her.

"We haven't even stepped foot in a school for like a week; it's getting kind of boring." The taller twin said, pulling out a stool and sitting across from Laura. Cohen scoffed.

"Pssh, right. I forgot you were Levy-lame-sauce." The shorter blonde taunted. Levy rolled her eyes.

"You insult like a toddler."

"And you're still a Levy-lame-sauce!" Cohen dared to poke Levy in the eye and darted out of the kitchen.

"OW!" Levy exclaimed, clutching her right eye, "MORON!" in the distance, the adults heard a door slam and Levy quickly ran towards their bedroom. Angela chuckled and Gina smirked, looking at Carmilla and Laura.

"Congratulations," Gina said, getting up from her seat, "They are _your_ nightmares now."


	3. Chapter 3

_Previously..._

 _"Sweet! No school Monday!" Cohen said, offering her sister a high five. Levy just stared at her._

 _"We haven't even stepped foot in a school for like a week; it's getting kind of boring." The taller twin said, pulling out a stool and sitting across from Laura. Cohen scoffed._

 _"Pssh, right. I forgot you were Levy-lame-sauce." The shorter blonde taunted. Levy rolled her eyes._

 _"You insult like a toddler."_

 _"And you're still a Levy-lame-sauce!" Cohen dared to poke Levy in the eye and darted out of the kitchen._

 _"OW!" Levy exclaimed, clutching her right eye, "MORON!" in the distance, the adults heard a door slam and Levy quickly ran towards their bedroom. Angela chuckled and Gina smirked, looking at Carmilla and Laura._

 _"Congratulations," Gina said, getting up from her seat, "They are your nightmares now."_

-About Two And A Half Weeks Later-

It was a quiet afternoon in the Hollis-Karnstein apartment. Today, Laura was supposed to be working on an article for The National Post about a Canadian diplomat committing fraud alongside a U.S. Federal agent. An anonymous tip, from a Canadian politician, had gotten through to Laura's sources and she was called about an interview with said politician. The interview was at a local restaurant but halfway through the interview, the politician decided to reschedule because they had received a call about a family emergency; something about their kid having to serve detention and what not. Laura hadn't really been paying that much attention after the politician started rambling about their children because she started reflecting about her own time with the twins. It wasn't horrible per say…it was just very awkward.

Cohen, having known her from the "vandalism mess", warmed up to Laura and Carmilla relatively quickly. After their first day of school, the short-haired blonde went on non-stop about their first day at Greenwood. As hilarious as it was to hear about 10th grade shenanigans, Laura's favourite memory, so far, had actually taken place during the second week of the twins starting school.

-Two Weeks Ago-

 _Cohen came home with a handful of consent forms for school activities and clubs. Carmilla refused to sign them because the kid was technically listed as "Hollis", so she thought it would be more appropriate for Laura to do it. Also, Carmilla had negative one thousand percent interest in band, choir and dance squad. Laura, on the other hand, was almost as enthusiastic as Cohen._

 _The short blonde tossed all of the forms onto the kitchen table, successfully covering all of Laura's documents and laptop. Laura smiled and began to sift through the pile of consent forms._

" _Is this for every club, or what?" Laura asked, proud and nervous at the same time._

" _Well, I've always wanted to join a dance squad." Cohen explained, "Ballet, according mother dearest, was the better choice and she had me en route towards dancing for the National Ballet of Canada." Both of Carmilla and Laura's eyebrows shot up hearing this new information. They had reviewed the file of the twins beforehand but nothing was indicated about Cohen's apparent level of nation-wide talent._

" _Had no idea you were a prima ballerina, Mary-Kate." Carmilla said, opening the fridge to get some Hemo Soy._

" _Meh, it lost its fun." Cohen said, shrugging her shoulders, "I've always wanted to do modern dance." Laura smiled and grabbed a pen._

" _Well say no more, Miss Cohen. I'll just look through these and sign them." The older blonde realized that each activity had an enrolment fee, which should have also been a part of the discussion, but she couldn't ignore the smile on Cohen's sweet face. Laura was done for._

" _Oh. My. GOD! Thanks Laurie!" Cohen wrapped her arms securely around Laura's shoulders and held on to her guardian for dear life. Laura just laughed and hugged her back._

" _Not that I'm complaining," Laura said, "but why are you so excited about extracurriculars?" immediately, Cohen's face drained itself of any excitement as the smaller blonde slowly released her grip on Laura and shrugged her shoulders._

" _Mom…well…" Cohen began, "she wasn't a fan of my creativity. I was always forced to do the activities that she wanted for me. Like I told her I wanted to sing and she stuffed me in the church choir. THE CHURCH CHOIR." Carmilla laughed at the girl's dramatic emphasis of 'Church Choir'. "When I told her that I wanted to do dance, she forced me into ballet. I mean I'm not complaining – they were tots fun – I just wished I did other things."_

" _Well as long as your grades are fine, you can do whatever you set your mind to. OH! And also try your best and have fun." Laura told her. Cohen's excitement was radiating off of her and the term 'beacon of light' couldn't possibly hold a candle to her in that moment. Carmilla merely shook her head, just observing the short blonde's happiness. The moment seemed great until Laura noticed how Levy quietly disappeared into her room without saying a word._

-Present-

Laura frowned as she reflected on her experiences with Levy. After the three weeks, that the twins were living with her and Carm, there would be no point for a legitimate flashback considering most of her interactions with the taller twin consisted of one-worded responses and various nonchalant body gestures (including but not limited to: shrugging, nodding, shaking of the head and eye rolls).

Carmilla kept insisting that Laura shouldn't take anything to heart because adoption wasn't easy. The vampire would share stories about how she only got along with Mattie and Will, out of all the vampire "children" that their "mother" had rounded up. Over the centuries of henchman-like duties and servitude, Carmilla admitted that it took months for them to even say more than one word, unrelated to work, to anyone.

Regardless of the process, Laura just wanted to feel like she was helping and that she was making an actual difference. It was easy with Cohen because of her bubbly personality but Levy's…Laura couldn't even properly describe the girl as she almost never spoke to her. The blonde sighed and shut her laptop, noticing that Carmilla would be home with the girls any minute now.

She walked to her bedroom and placed the laptop on her bed when she heard the front door unlock. She expected Carmilla to shout "Cupcake, we're home!" but much to her dismay there was shouting about other things.

"What's your problem kid?!" Laura heard Carmilla ask. She then heard shoes being kicked off followed by aggressive stomping. "Kid I'm talking to you!"

"Isn't it obvious I don't wanna talk?!" Levy's voiced sounded aggravated and distressed as Laura finally made it to the foyer. The scene before her was rather uncomfortable as Carmilla and Levy stared intensely at one another, in a vicious stand-off. All the while, Cohen was whistling casually; kneeling on the ground, untying her burgundy Doc Martens. The shorter twin was so obviously trying to avoid whatever mess was going on right beside her. "Just leave me the hell alone!" was Levy's final contribution to the fight as she trudged to her room and brushed passed Laura. Laura wanted to reach out and stop her but thought better of it and watched as the angry teen rounded the corner and slammed her door, causing some frames on the walls to shake.

Laura turned back to look at Carmilla who was steaming mad. With a loud grunt, Carmilla waked into their living room and collapsed onto the sofa. The blonde woman walked over to the sofa and sat near Carmilla's head as the vampire lay face first on the comfy piece of furniture.

"What the hell was that about?" Laura asked, running her fingers through Carmilla's dark tresses. With a sigh, Carmilla sat up and looked at her girlfriend.

"Let's start at the beginning, shall we?"

-About Four Hours Ago-

 _Carmilla was at a local coffee shop with Mel and Kirsch. She had just finished up her tutorial for one of her classes at the University of Toronto and had some spare time before she went to pickup the girls. She absolutely hated reiterating the basics of Kantian Ethics to a bunch of whiny adolescents who still have no idea that there is, indeed, an actual difference between ethical and moral reasoning. She begged to teach an upper year class but the only ones available to her, with a schedule that worked well with the twins' schedules, were second year courses._

 _Shitty day or good day, Carmilla enjoyed the time that she got to spend doing absolutely nothing with Kirsch and Mel. Over the years Carmilla had developed a sort of preference towards these two. For Carmilla, Mel was just as sarcastic and bold as she was which presented a sort of "friendly rivalry" thing. Kirsch was just very entertaining; kind of like the animal sidekick in any given Disney film._

" _So how was proclaiming deontology to the masses, this afternoon, Santanico?" Mel asked, unwrapping her newly purchased "fresh" sandwich from its wrapper. Carmilla shrugged fiddling with her car keys._

" _It was fine. Not too many of the slackers showed up so it was quite nice. Turnout was a steady 21 kids."_

" _That's good, right?" Kirsch asked, mouth full of his own sandwich._

" _What are you? Three?" Mel asked, noticeably disgusted as she observed the tall human devour his pastrami on rye. "Chew your Goddamn food." Before Kirsch could answer, Carmilla's phone began to ring. The vampire took the device out of her pocket and looked at the Caller ID. It was Greenwood Secondary school._

This should be interesting, _she thought as she used her thumb to answer the call._

" _Carmilla Karnstein speaking," the vampire said into the phone._

" _Hi, Miss Karnstein," a new voice said back. "I'm Donna Christiansen, one of the guidance counsellors for Greenwood Secondary." There was a pause before the woman continued to speak. "I'm just calling to inform you of a little…incident involving your daughter, Levy." Carmilla rolled her eyes at the term 'daughter' but didn't bother with any corrections because this seemed kind of serious._

" _What happened?" Carmilla inquired; the concern in her voice was hard to ignore. "Is Levy okay?" At the mention of Levy's name, Mel and Kirsch leaned in closer, watching the way Carmilla's face became focused and distant all at once. It was a face that they recognized as "serious" after all their years of meddling with the supernatural._

" _Oh, um, Miss Levy is just fine." Donna soothed, "But she had gotten into a…pickle today." Donna took a deep breath before going into further detail. "She was caught, with a group of seniors, smoking in a prohibited area while skipping her sixth period class." Carmilla rolled her eyes as she heard this. "Because this is her first time, causing trouble, there will be no fines. The principal has decided to just suspend her, from school, until next Tuesday. We just need you to come in and sign the authorization of her leave, if you don't mind." Carmilla sighed. Laura was going to have a fit._

" _Yeah, I'm just a few minutes away. I'll come over there now." Carmilla said, slowly rising to her feet and taking her leather jacket off of the chair she was using._

" _Thank you and see you shortly, Miss Karnstein." The call disconnected and the vampire shook her head._

" _Son of a bitch."_

" _What's going on?" asked Kirsch. Carmilla chuckled solemnly._

" _Turns out I have the troublesome child."_

…

" _Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Karnstein." Donna said, shaking Carmilla's hand._

" _Not a problem. Thanks for informing me rather quickly." The vampire responded. Donna smiled at Carmilla one more time before returning her attention to the teen who was standing beside her._

" _Now don't forget that you have to type up an apology, to the principal, when you come back." Donna's cheerful smile was a stark contrast to the expression of absolute malice that was currently plastered onto Levy's features. Carmilla smirked; Levy's expressions could rival her own any day but she chose to withhold her pride due to the kid's suspension. Levy rolled her eyes and plodded towards the door, disgruntled and furious. Carmilla said one last "Thanks" to Donna before following after the blonde._

 _Once they were seated in the car, Carmilla started it and rolled the windows down._

" _We're gonna wait here, for the next few minutes, until school's over." Carmilla informed the blonde girl, sitting in the passenger seat. Out of her peripheral, the raven-haired woman saw the vaguest shrug from Levy, taking it as a positive indicator. "Cool. Great."_

 _They sat in silence for about 4 minutes, listening to soft rock on the radio when Carmilla began to lose her sanity. She turned to Levy and decided to get some more information about the day's events._

" _I didn't know that you smoke." Carmilla said, in hopes that her open-ended questions would be received well. Levy turned to her and shrugged her shoulder._

" _Just wanted to try it." Levy said, reaching for the volume dial of the radio. She turned it up to a ridiculous volume and just sat back, watching some pigeons that were in the vacant parking spot right next to their car. Carmilla usually didn't mind absurd music volumes but she found this girl's behaviour quite rude and unnecessary. She briefly thought about apologizing to all of her friends for giving them the same cold treatment but quickly dismissed it. Carmilla reached out and turned the dial back down causing Levy to look at her with an expression that clearly demonstrated the likeness of 'Dude, WTF?'_

" _Not to be_ that _person, but I'm just letting you know that you're gonna have to organize yourself for when you tell Laura about all this." Carmilla forewarned, "She's a bit of a neurotic when it comes to delinquency." Levy groaned rather dramatically before saying:_

" _Why would she? It's not like it matters; she's not my mom or anything," Levy reasoned, "it won't affect her." Carmilla groaned and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day._

" _You're gonna play that card this early in the game, Tweedle Dee?" the vampire asked, prepping herself for a battle of wits. Without taking her eyes off of Levy, Carmilla straightened her posture and put on her best poker face. Both Levy and Carmilla were so invested in their impending argument that neither one of them noticed Cohen happily and excitedly making her way from the school to the car._

 _The shorter blonde opened up the backseat door and slid right in, oblivious to the tension in the vehicle. She very merrily settled into the backseat, clutching her backpack to her chest while closing the door. As she put on her seatbelt, she greeted her twin and pseudo-mother._

" _Whaddup, banana bundle?!" Cohen greeted cheerfully. Regardless of the dead silence she received, Cohen felt it necessary to explain her entrance line. "Don't mind me, I'm trying out nicknames for our little group-living situation without using the F-word…guys?" Cohen began to look between Carmilla and Levy, uncomfortably, and quickly learned that she was in for one of, if not the most, awkward car ride of her life._

-Present Again-

"So yeah, we got into the whole 'stop trying to control me' versus 'I don't have to be your mother to care about you' thing and – GAH! I hate teens." Carmilla whined, crossing her arms in a huff. Laura sighed and slumped beside her girlfriend just as confused and as helpless as her.

"Well, I'm not sure what to do. She's…coping with this as best she can I guess?" the blonde reasoned and Carmilla looked at her like she had three heads.

"By skipping class and becoming an emo-rebel? Nuh-uh, I've gone down that alley tons of times and I don't quite think it's the best idea ever." The vampire said.

Unbeknownst to the couple, Cohen had been overhearing everything and just shook her head. This new Levy was not, in any way shape or form, her twin. Out of the both of them, throughout their life-spans, Cohen had always been considered the troublesome one. She had all the whacky ideas, all the weird hobbies and always said weird things. Levy was the smart one who was well-rounded. The taller blonde was on rep teams while maintaining her status as a junior student council member and other prestigious things. Levy was supposed to be the one who was comforting and the one who always had a logical reaction to situations. But the pattern, as of late, has Cohen rotating on an opposite axis; their parents ruined everything.

Cohen sighed and decided to take matters into her own hands. If Levy wasn't going to listen to Carmilla or Laura because they weren't "family", then the right thing for the blonde to do would be using her familial leverage as an appropriate approach technique. She walked to her and Levy's room with purpose, boldly opened the door and tossed her bag at her sister. The unsuspecting victim, of Cohen's backpack, was immediately caught off guard by being assaulted with an aerial projectile.

"OW!" Levy shouted in response to having a backpack launched at her. "What the hell is your problem?!"

"My problem?! I wanna know what the hell _your problem_ is!" Cohen exclaimed, stepping right up to her sister. Levy was taller than her by about four inches and the height difference was having an impact on the intensity of Cohen's death glare but nevertheless, drama was going to be served. "Please, Lev! Tell me why you're doing this crap! You're not like this! This isn't you! Smoking? Skipping class?! Seriously?! We have two people who care about us and adopted us just so that we can be together and be safe!"

"It's not their place to care!" was Levy's heated response and Cohen just looked at her, in disbelief.

"So, who's place is it then?!" Cohen asked, "Huh? Who, in your brilliant mind, is suitable of giving a shit about us?!" the shorter blonde just stared intently at her sibling before continuing. "If you say mom and dad, I will slap you." Levy just shook her head.

"If I'm gonna do something, it's not their business! They don't have to care about me! They had a life before us, and they should stick to it! Yeah, they're nice and shit, but when it comes down to me and doing what I want, they shouldn't say shit!"

"WE'RE _FOURTEEN_ , YA DUMB SHIT!" Cohen yelled, inches away from her sister's glare. "WE aren't even old enough to care for ourselves which is proven by your lovely performances this month!" Cohen let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Do you know what Carmilla was doing before she had to pick you up?" Cohen kept silent until she was certain her sister wouldn't answer. "She was chilling with her friends. Caring about her own life. I was overhearing her talking to Laura about today and she totally could have just said 'oh, cool, I'll just come when school's done'. BUT SHE DIDN'T! Tell me, Levy, what would our parents have done, hm?" Levy just stared at her sister, finally letting the argument settle in. she already knew she was losing but kept her blank façade.

"…mom would've sent a servant to come get me and dad would've e-transferred money to the school so we wouldn't have a record." Levy mumbled, barely audible.

"See? They don't have to be our parents – HELL – they _shouldn't_ be our parents. Just give them a chance, Levy. They're giving us a chance. I feel like there's more to your shitty stuff right now, so out with it!" Cohen paused her rant to just stare into her sister's eyes for a moment; their bright blue eyes meeting intensely for the first time since they had moved in with Laura and Carmilla. The intensity wore Levy down a little and Cohen could see the slightest surrender in her sister's expression. After releasing a breath, Cohen placed a gentle and calming hand on Levy's shoulder. "I feel like you don't even fully understand what's going on with you, dude." Levy just shook her head, keeping her tears at bay. She swiftly slapped Cohen's hand off of her and went to lie down in her bed. Cohen just followed her and laid down beside her. "You ready to answer my question, ya big cry baby?"

"I just…" Levy started, carefully analyzing her though process before she spoke. Her voice was shaking slightly and her fingers trembled. "I'm not sure how to feel. I miss mom and dad but they were horrible people. Not even because of the conviction or anything, they just didn't care. I guess I'm just not used to this shit." Levy sighed, wiping her tears. "I know I shouldn't miss them, but I do. I wanted them to care for us; I wanted mom and dad to be there for us."

"Same, but they'd always pick you over me." Cohen admitted, "They'd be like 'our Levy is so smart' or 'our Levy is gonna be so successful'. But no matter how much they praised you, that's all you were to them: a trophy. They didn't care about how much you wanted to become the holder of the highest GPA and they never asked you how you felt." Cohen let Levy's head rest on her shoulder and they both just relished one another's presence. "I'm not sure that you'll ever get that relationship with these guys either, but it's worth a try." Cohen said and Levy released a shaky breath.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" the taller blonde asked in the smallest voice. Cohen's face scrunched up in thought.

"I don't think Laura could hate anything if she was paid to do it."

"No," Levy corrected, "Carmilla."

"Oh." Was Cohen's reply, "Yeah…that one…good luck, friend." The shorter blonde patted her sister on the head, got up, and began to pickup the debris from throwing her bag at Levy earlier.

"You're the best pep-talker, dimwit."

"At least I don't suck at being a delinquent." Cohen said, laughing, "Seriously, cut it out – you suck; you keep getting caught."

-Two Days Later-

It was now Friday. Cohen had gone off to school, Carmilla went to speak with one of her professors to ask about her dissertation, and Laura was just out, doing some grocery shopping. Tagging along with her was Levy, who didn't have anything else going on because of her suspension. Since their totally dramatic Wednesday, Levy and Carmilla hadn't spoken to one another. Laura came to the simple realization that Levy and Carmilla were, in a weird way, kind of the same. Both had parental issues, troubles with expectations and were snarky and sassy beyond belief.

Anyway, Laura also came to realize that Carmilla and Levy actually had somewhat of a relationship before their fight. Laura remembered how Levy would be watching some weird History Channel documentary, on any given day, and Carmilla would join to make fun of whatever the historians were trying to figure out. They had common ground and Laura was sad that the vampire and the girl weren't speaking right now. As a solution to Levy's funk, Laura decided that she should up her game and begin to develop some sort of relationship with her in case Levy and Carmilla fought again. This way, Levy could rely on her as well.

This particular idea came to her, last night, when Laura was on the phone with her father. That was a conversation that really should have happened at the beginning of this month, but she had completely forgotten about it.

-Last Night-

 _Levy had taken her dinner to her room in another obvious attempt to avoid the vampire. Laura noticed how upset both Carm and Levy looked, and felt bad that they were fighting. After dinner, Cohen and Carmilla decided to watch 'Match Game' while Laura tried to get some of her article done. She was in the middle of writing another paragraph when her cellphone rang. Laura checked the caller ID and her breath caught in her throat. She slowly slid her thumb across the screen to answer the call and hesitantly raised the phone to her ear._

" _Hey, dad," she greeted nervously, "what's up?"_

" _Hey, honey! Just checking in to make sure that you and Carm are still good to come up to Collingwood for Thanksgiving!" Sherman said cheerily. Laura just sat there, not really knowing how to tell him about the twins. She hadn't even thought about texting her father – which was a horrible thing to do! "Hey, sweetheart, everything okay? I can hear you thinking from over here."_

" _No – uh – I mean yes! Yeah! I'm okay…things are okay. I – I'm just wondering if…" Yep, she had no idea how to bring up this topic. "…if you had any spare mattresses, or something, for when we head up."_

" _What for?" Sherman questioned, "Did you invite some of your friends? Laura I've only got one extra room up here."_

" _No…that'll be fine…"_

" _Laura…" Sherman inquired, "come on, what are you not telling me?"_

" _Carm and I…may have…adopted."_

" _Adopted what? A cat?"_

" _No."_

" _Then what are you –!" Sherman cut himself off when he realized what she was talking about. "Laura."_

" _Dad."_

" _Laura."_

" _Dad."_

" _Laura…"_

" _Dad?"_

" _YOU TWO NUMBNUTS BECAME PARENTS AND DIDN'T TELL ME?!" he screeched into the phone while Laura just cringed at his reaction. She really should have done this sooner. "Were ya just gonna show up at the cabin with a baby like 'surprise!'?"_

" _It…they're not a baby…and there's two of them." Laura cringed again as her father basically unleashed into full freak-out._

" _LAURA EILEEN HOLLIS –!"_

" _OKAY! Don't middle name me! I'm sorry!" she said, cutting off her father. "I really am sorry dad, I meant to tell you, but I got so carried away with the documents, enrolling them into high school, paying for all of the activities and my latest article –!" it was Sherman's turn to cut her off._

" _Okay, I get it – not really – but yeah, you would be busy with the, um, the kids and what not." He felt incredibly odd, learning that his daughter had become a parent seemingly overnight. But he learned to take everything one day at a time, especially when it came to his Laura. His little, irrationally driven Laura. "So…" Sherman began, trying to get some more information, "wanna talk about all of it?"_

" _Yeah, thanks dad." She said gratefully, "So, remember that couple, who was convicted of all those terrible things?" Laura smiled as she told him all about the twins from start to finish. She told him about Cohen's noble act to protect her sister's reputation (despite what transpired this week), Levy's run-in with a gang and how Carm and their friends saved her. Laura even gushed about her relationship with Cohen and Sherman couldn't help but smile about how comfortable his daughter sounded. The blonde began to tell him about Levy's recent incident and how her and Carm weren't talking and Sherman just laughed._

" _Welcome to parenthood, sweetie." He said as he laughed, "It's gonna happen. You skipped like all the other steps, but it doesn't matter; teens are a different type of species and I firmly believe that." Sherman's chuckling subsided as he got serious. "If you feel completely helpless, that's fine; it was bound to happen. And from what you told me, about what they went through, I would expect all of this. It'll pass and even get better."_

" _I just wish I knew what to do." Laura whines, "I just want to be able to connect with her as well as I do with Cohen."_

" _Keep at it, honey. All relationships are work. Remember how you and Carm were?" Laura's silence was an obvious indication of her answer and Sherman laughed a little more. "See? Just relax and take it as it comes." And here was another moment where Laura was extremely thankful for her father._

" _Thanks, dad."_

" _No problem, honey." Sherman said. They revelled in their daddy/daughter moment before he began stressing about the logistics of everything. "So…are all four of you coming up to the cabin or what?" Laura just laughed; of course, Sherman would stress out about this. "Is anyone vegetarian? Any allergies? Quit laughing, Laura! I need to know this!"_

-Present-

So now here they were, at the seasonal outdoor marketplace. Just Levy and Laura, strolling along looking for homemade goodies and fresh fruits and vegetables. They had a crap ton of meats at home so the natural thing to do would be to even out the ratios a little bit.

Laura and Levy walked to the market, since it was only 15 minutes away from the apartment. There wasn't much to talk about except for the nice weather and that one guy who didn't pay attention to his red light and almost ran them over, about 10 minutes ago. Laura kind of appreciated the silence as it wasn't awkward. They were out in public and no one really cared.

"I've heard of this place before," Levy suddenly said nearly causing Laura to almost drop the cinnamon candle she was sniffing, "Amelia, our old nanny, wanted to bring us here but our mom thought it was a waste of time."

"She sounds great to be around with, at parties." Laura commented, "I – I mean, no offense, but –!" Levy cut off the older blonde's rambling with a laugh.

"No, yeah, she was kind of terrible. I don't doubt that." Levy said with a smile. Laura thought the teen looked rather relaxed with her jean jacket, beanie and hands in the pockets of her track pants. "I'm sure you've heard about mom from Cohen a bunch." Laura shook her head.

"I mean, I know that she was very particular about what Cohen did. I don't know much from your perspective though." Levy nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, my experience isn't too different from that." The younger blonde admitted. "It was more of them expecting me to be fine all the time. No one really checked in with me. They were like 'Oh, Levy's smart, she's fine on her own'."

"I definitely had an opposite experience. My dad was always hovering over me; the perfect definition of a helicopter dad." Laura said as they both walked to the next stand.

Conversation began to flow between them pretty easily and Laura was over the moon. She couldn't believe how well she and the taller twin were getting along, today. She didn't exactly know what changed but she was glad that Levy was acknowledging her a little more. They mostly talked about their parents while they also voiced their opinions on all the food and knick-knacks that were in the marketplace. After finding their desired fruits, vegetables and other assorted goods, Laura and Levy made their way back to the apartment.

They made it back to the apartment in about the same time in took them to get to the market. Hands full of groceries, Laura carefully yet skillfully unlocked their door with one hand. They walked into the kitchen and began to sort through everything. Levy was about to place some jam in the fridge when she realized something.

"Shit," Levy said, as she quickly began patting her pockets down.

"What?" Laura asked worriedly. "What's wrong?" Levy just shook her head.

"Nothing, nothing. I think I may have dropped my phone, out in the parking lot." The younger blonde said frantically. Laura just snickered.

"Oh, maybe it fell when you almost dropped the sweet potatoes."

"Hush, don't be mean." Levy said as Laura chuckled. "I'll be right back." And with that, she was out the door. Laura shook her head and continued to sort through the groceries.

Five minutes had passed and Laura looked towards the front door, from her spot in the kitchen. It was still left wide open from when Levy left to get her phone. Laura looked at the kitchen island; everything had been put away and the teen had not been back. Laura figured that Levy may have gotten into a conversation with a neighbour or possibly wandered a little further than the parking lot, in search of her phone. _I should help her,_ Laura thought as she quickly grabbed her house keys off of the island.

As she locked the door, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Swiftly turning around, it was Mrs. Ames, from across the hall. Laura smiled as she turned towards her neighbour.

"Hey, Mrs. Ames!" Laura greeted, "How are you doing this afternoon?"

"Just fine, thank you. What about yourself, dear?" the old woman asked.

"Oh, I'm great! Just about to look for one of the teens that have been living with us." Laura replied.

"Right, you are fostering!" Mrs. Ames exclaimed, smiling widely.

"A-actually –!"

"Well," Mrs. Ames began, cutting her off, "the young girl living with you – the taller one – I saw her outside, speaking with a handsome young man." Laura's face fell and quickly got worried. Mrs. Ames didn't notice her expression and kept going. "He looks a little too old for her but teens will be teens, right? You know my eldest daughter, Melody –!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Ames, but I'll just go and meet Levy outside!" Laura immediately brushed passed her neighbour and scurried down the hall. She waved goodbye to Mrs. Ames, when she got to the end of the hall, and quickly ran out into the yard.

Now in the visitor's parking lot, Laura looked around and saw no sign of Levy. She began to panic. _This is how dad felt, all those years,_ Laura thought as she continued to search the premises. She vowed that as soon as she found Levy, she'd call Sherman and apologize for scaring the living crap out of him all her life.

-Meanwhile-

School had just finished for Cohen and Carmilla decided that they both deserved some ice cream. With her motorcycle still parked at the school, the vampire and the small blonde walked down the street to a bakery with the "best gelato in town", according to Laura's extremely knowledgeable sweet tooth. They were now sitting outside, on the bakery's patio, looking at some of the sheet music for Cohen's audition.

"You play the saxophone?" Carmilla asked as she finished her strawberry gelato and placed the spoon in the now empty cup. Cohen was still stuffing her face with a regular mint chip ice-cream cone. Carmilla just shook her head when Cohen peeled her face away from the cold treat, revealing mint-coloured liquid around her mouth, flowing down her chin.

"Yeah," the blonde replied, "I've played it since I finally convinced the old man to buy me one, two Christmases ago." Immediately after answering, she dove right back in to her dessert. Carmilla smiled; this one was entertaining.

"Do you still own one?"

"Yeah, dude." Cohen answered, mouth full of mint chip.

"Where?" the vampire asked, very confused. "I haven't seen it."

"It's the only thing in my big yellow suitcase." The blonde answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, all your clothes were in the other suitcase and your duffle bag?"

"Yuh." Cohen answered, "I only wear like…seven things."

"Odd." Before Carmilla could say anything else, the vampire's phone rang. Carmilla took her phone out and looked at the caller ID; it read 'Levy K.' The dark-haired woman was very confused considering she hadn't spoken to Levy at all since Wednesday. Regardless of their fight, Carmilla answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello Mercy," Came a man's voice. Carmilla leant forward in her seat, clutching the armrest with her free hand.

"How the hell did you get this phone?" the vampire seethed into the device. A dark chuckle was heard and Carmilla could feel her stomach churn.

"Well, it belongs to your daughter so you tell me." The man said, still chuckling.

"I don't have a –!" Carmilla paused when she realized what was happening.

"Uh, uh, uh," the male voice scolded, "don't lie to me. By the way, Mercy, how dare you neglect to tell me about a niece. You know, out of all of us, I didn't know you'd be the one to follow after Maman; adopting the needy."

"What have you done?!" Carmilla snarled. "Where is she?!"

"Oh, your precious little one is safe and sound, right here." The voice teased, "Would you like to say hi?" without waiting for a response, he proceeded to give the phone to the girl in question. "Sag hallo for your mother, little one."

"CARM!" Carmilla heard Levy's cries through the phone and she felt her stomach drop and her muscles tense. It was a type of pained cry for help that Carmilla had heard many times, as girls would be pawned off to her mother, all those years ago. "CARM, HELP! I-I-I'M SORRY, I –!" Immediately, after the phone was taken away from Levy, Carm felt her insides twist in a way that made her want to vomit.

"What do you want?" the vampire asked through her teeth.

"You know exactly what I want, Mercy." The voice said, "You'd better hurry. She smells rather appetizing and –!"

"If you lay a finger on her, you son of a –!"

"Mircalla, you know better than to swear in the presence of your little one." the man said, in a teasing tone. "Now meet me this evening or, by this time tomorrow, I'd have a full stomach…and one less niece."

"You're going to invite me over without an address?" Carmilla quipped, trying to hide the fear and worry in her voice. The man laughed again, their tone still very much a condescending one.

"I'll be honest, Mercy; I'm not familiar with this part of town. There's water…some condos…and I can see the island from here." Carmilla made note of his clues. She trusted that they were accurate since he was attempting to lure her in anyway. "You'd better hurry, Mercy. I need a snack and your daughter smells…very refreshing."

"Don't you dare –!"

"What? It's your own fault the thing is still human!" before hanging up, the man said, "I hope to see you tonight, Mircalla. Time's a ticking." And with that the line cut and Carmilla was left with the phone's 'disconnected call' tone. Carmilla inhaled sharply, and slowly, as she closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the chair.

"What's going on?" Cohen asked, pulling Carmilla from her enraged trance. The vampire gave Cohen an apologetic look before standing up. She just shrugged her shoulders and motioned for the girl to follow after her.

"We've got to get home, right now."


	4. Chapter 4

_"I'll be honest, Mercy; I'm not familiar with this part of town. There's water…some condos…and I can see the island from here." Carmilla made note of his clues. She trusted that they were accurate since he was attempting to lure her in anyway. "You'd better hurry, Mercy. I need a snack and your daughter smells…very refreshing."_

 _"Don't you dare –!"_

 _"What? It's your own fault the thing is still human!" before hanging up, the man said, "I hope to see you tonight, Mircalla. Time's a ticking." And with that the line cut and Carmilla was left with the phone's 'disconnected call' tone. Carmilla inhaled sharply, and slowly, as she closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the chair._

 _"What's going on?" Cohen asked, pulling Carmilla from her enraged trance. The vampire gave Cohen an apologetic look before standing up. She just shrugged her shoulders and motioned for the girl to follow after her._

 _"We've got to get home, right now."_

-The Hollis/Karnstein Apartment-

The atmosphere was incredibly tense in the small kitchen, this evening. The entire gang showed up immediately after Carmilla announced that Levy had possibly been abducted. Danny and Perry were in the twins' room, attempting to console and comfort a very distressed Cohen. Laura hadn't moved from Carmilla's side, in their kitchen, while LaF was sitting across from them at their laptop, diligently tracking Levy's device through Carmilla's phone. Mattie and J.P. (formerly Will) were in the kitchen as well, while Mel and Kirsch stood by, in the living room, calmly waiting for a plan to actually formulate and take place.

Laura was incredibly grateful for her friends but was still feeling a little guilty for letting Levy go off on her own. She should have been more hesitant to let her leave, by herself, while many of the gangs and criminals were still looking for the twins. Carmilla sensed Laura's discomfort and slowly rubbed circles on the smaller woman's lower back.

"It's not your fault cupcake," Carmilla began, in a soothing voice, "and I'm almost certain that the criminals are not our culprits."

"But are you certain, Mircalla?" Mattie interjected, still baffled by her sister's accusation earlier.

"Mattie; no one else refers to me as 'Mercy'! It's got to be Tobias!" the younger vampire insisted. A puzzled expression began to form on Laura's face.

"Who's Tobias?"

"To my understanding," J.P. said, adjusting the hat he was wearing in an attempt to tame his messy hair, "Tobias Larsson was one of the many who were 'recruited' to be apart of Lilita Morgan's 'family unit'. In other words –!"

"He was our brother." Mattie affirmed. Laura was still puzzled.

"What do you mean by that? Why are you using 'was' as past tense?"

"He was…cut off from the 'family'." Carmilla expanded, "He became a bit of a 'bad apple', way before I started rebelling."

"He was a Swedish delegate, in 1695, that fell ill with a virus during a diplomatic tour in Austria. Maman had revived him and he was devoted to her for just about 30 some years." Mattie paused, thinking over how much of the story she was going to actually share. After mulling it over, she continued, "He was supposed to be the strongest out of the ten of us – in a physical sense – yet he never got over his newborn bloodlust. One year, just days prior to one of the sacrificial ceremonies that Maman used to organize, the brute decided that his hunger outweighed the need to harmonize universal balance and he devoured all of the sacrificial subjects." At this information, LaF and Laura stared at Mattie, their mouths gaping in disbelief. "If we hadn't had Mircalla and Will, we wouldn't have been able to keep up with the ceremony."

"I hadn't seen him since then." Carmilla contributed, "I tried to reason with Maman because I didn't know what we were using the women for at the time. Essentially, I thought that her outrage was completely unwarranted and Tobias' punishment was unjustified. Shortly after the incident, two of my other siblings dragged him out of bed one evening and I never saw him again." The vampire confessed. She didn't remember much of her brother other than he was incredibly unstable, narcissistic and strong. She recalled her two older brothers came back to the mansion with scars and bruises all over them, that night in 1725.

"What did your siblings do to subdue him?" LaF inquired, very engrossed in the conversation. Mattie and Carmilla looked at one another, silently discussing who should answer. LaFontaine really wanted to know about this considering this vampire's potential strength. Sure, they had Mel, Kirsch, Danny and Carmilla but only two of them were immortal beings and only one of them had only been a vampire for 5 years. The thought of this immortal creature, needing two experienced vampires to subdue them, was incredibly daunting and LaF wanted to devise a plan as thoroughly as possible. Carmilla looked towards LaF and sighed.

"I didn't see what happened to Tobias." She answered solemnly. "As far as I'm aware two of my siblings went, that night. I don't know anything else." She then looked towards Mattie for further elaboration.

"Because of our lack of Tobias knowledge, I took the liberty of –!" Mattie was cut off by three loud knocks on the apartment's front door. Everyone became silent, looking towards the eldest vampire for an explanation. Mattie just smiled as she toyed with the wine glass, with hemo soy, in her hand. "…enlisting some reinforcements." The tall vampire walked into the living and snapped her fingers at Kirsch and Mel. "Would you two be _dolls_ , for a moment, and answer the door for us?" the two people, in question, glared at the condescending woman before looking at one another.

"Sure, Scary Hottie Number Two." Kirsch answered, "But, like, how can we open the door when we're pretending to be dolls?" Kirsch asked rather genuinely. Carmilla chuckled while everyone else either groaned or rolled their eyes.

"Just come with me to answer the door, Scoob." Mel instructed, hitting him upside his head with a magazine that she rolled up. Mel sauntered off to the front door trailed by Kirsch who was rubbing the back of his head, still befuddled about Mattie's order.

Each picking up one of the umbrellas by the door, Mel and Kirsch braced themselves as the latter unlatched the door and opened it. Once it was opened, it revealed two tall men, presumably in their early 30's. One of them was dressed in a fitted navy-blue suit with a skinny black tie. He had a hairstyle that was similar to LaF's, but it was blonde and slicked back. He had the slightest hint of facial hair but was, otherwise, pretty clean-cut. The other man, right behind him, had a slightly tanned complexion and was wearing a fitted grey suit. He had black hair, a soul patch and glasses. His expression was serious while the blonde man wore a smirk akin to Mattie's.

Laura felt Carmilla's body tense as Mattie beckoned both men to follow her into the kitchen. As the two men came into the vicinity, Carmilla stood up, hand still grasping Laura for support. The journalist eyed her girlfriend's expression, carefully, in order to decipher who exactly these men were to Carmilla.

"Glad you two could make it on such short notice, mes petit frères." Mattie said, her arms outstretched. The tall blonde man smiled as he made his way to her. Before he could get any closer, Mattie frowned and lowered her arms. "I'd be happier if you'd shown up sooner than later, though." The man lowered his arms as well, sighing in response to Mattie's apparent disapproval.

"Well it would have been much easier to get here had 'Mr. Leisurely-Stroll', here, emphasized his pace." The blonde man said as he accused his counterpart. The other man, in the grey suit, groaned and took a step towards Mattie.

"With all due respect, _brother_ ," The other man began, " _I'm_ not the one with _billions_ of hair product in my mane that could potentially combust any second now." Both men in suits glared at one another before Laura spoke up.

"Um, no offence, but who are you guys?" at the question, Mattie and the two men looked at one another expectantly. After a maniacal chuckle, the blonde man stepped towards Laura and offered his hand for a shake. She eyed him before looking to Carmilla. The vampire just rolled her eyes and nodded. Laura then shook his hand and he began to introduce himself.

"I'm Artan Shala." he said, "In 1616, I was killed during the Ottoman Empire's control over the Northern sector of Albania. To my advantage, or weakness, I was found by Lilita Morgan and was taken under her wing, alongside Matska."

"And I'm Douglas Cedric Wyndham." The other man started, "I was a servant to the Duke of Albany's Valet for about 5 years. In 1620, my master's abuse was too much and I was offered immense strength and eternal life by Lilita. I was able to subdue my abusers, escape and was subsequently recruited by the very one who gave me strength." Both men bowed towards Laura rather gracefully. It seemed that for being centuries-old murderers, vampires were very courteous and well-mannered.

"In other words, these are my brothers." Mattie concluded, looking towards Carmilla. "Well, _our_ brothers."

"It's good to see you again, Mircalla!" Douglas said, cheerily. Carmilla just rolled her eyes.

"Ditto." Carmilla's response elicited an exaggerated chuckle from Artan.

"You don't have to be so enthused, sister."

"Well you don't have to be here." Carmilla spat back.

"False." Artan responded, "We wouldn't have to be here if you stopped meddling around with your human playthings, pretending to be mother, and adopting _humans._ " The dark-haired vampire rid herself of Laura's hold and stepped right in front of Artan. He towered over her smaller form.

"I am NOT pretending to be mother by finding happiness –!"

"You call THIS happiness?!"

"ENOUGH!" Mattie interjected, separating her siblings by stepping between them. "Stop this nonsense, immediately. Carmilla, they are here to help take down Tobias since they're the ones who did it originally."

"If they'd done it _properly_ , we wouldn't be in this mess." Carmilla spat back, glaring at Artan. He didn't back down either and stepped around Mattie only to tower over Carmilla once more.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't romanticized humans and continued to play pretend!"

"Stop fighting!" J.P. screeched, hands over his ears.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WITH ALL THIS YELLING?!" a new voice cried out and everyone in the room looked towards the entrance of the kitchen where a disheveled Cohen stood. She was accompanied by Danny and Perry who each had a hand on one of her shoulders. Immediately, Cohen sought out Laura and Carmilla and rushed to stand between them, effectively wrapping her arms around the couple.

"You've got another one?" Artan asked, eyeing the small blonde girl. Ignoring him, Carmilla just stared at Cohen and felt sympathy. She thought that Laura's crying was enough to shatter her soul but seeing Cohen cry was a different kind of pain. The small blonde sniffed and snuggled further into Laura as the journalist stroked her hair in a poor attempt to ease her worrying.

"All of this incessant arguing woke up Cohen!" Perry said, reprimanding the group of adults.

"Don't fret, child," Mattie said suddenly, "we will find your sibling in due time." Confused and frightened, by this new mysterious woman, Cohen stared at her.

"Who are these people?" the small blonde asked no one in particular.

"This is Mattie, Artan and Douglas." Carmilla introduced, softly, "They are my brothers and sister." Cohen never took her eyes off of the vampire's family, engraving their images into her mind. The three figures were all tall and menacingly ominous. They exuded a confidence that eerily reminded Cohen of her own mother and took half a step back, still remaining in Laura's arms.

Carmilla could feel Cohen's discomfort and felt that she needed to settle her nerves. This was Carmilla's family, after all, and there was a chance that the twins would come into contact with Artan, Mattie, Douglas and J.P. often. The dark-haired vampire stepped closer to Cohen and lowered herself to the 14-year-old's eye level. She offered a soft smile.

"They won't hurt you, buttercup." She said, looking into Cohen's eyes. "I promise." For some odd reason, Cohen found strength in this affirmation from the vampire. Cohen sniffled again and returned Carmilla's gaze.

"Then if they do something, you'll owe me big time?" Cohen asked and Carmilla smirked.

"Anything you want, buttercup." The vampire reassured and they smiled at one another.

"Adorable." Artan interjected, rolling his eyes at the affection in the room. "However, this…this incredibly nauseating display of trust is not going to help us take down Tobias." Douglas nodded.

"I, oddly enough, agree with brother dearest. He's not going to be able to control himself around a human, so we'd better start moving."

"I've got a location!" LaF announced, redirecting all the attention to them. "I relayed the signal towards a shipment yard, east of the harbourfront."

"Oh!" Kirsch interrupted, "Is it by the Korean restaurant? I'm starving! OW!" he yelped as he was hit with the magazine, once more.

"Pipe down and listen to Dexter's Lab, numbskull!" Mel instructed, "We can eat after we find the missing Olsen twin!" once again, all eyes were on LaF, waiting for their input and suggestions for further direction.

"I've got a plan," they started, "but I'm gonna need some strategical contributions from the older vamps in the room." Mattie, Artan, J.P., Douglas and Carmilla moved in closer in order to hear LaF's instructions. "So, here's what I was thinking…"

-The Harbourfront, About an Hour Later-

The plan established three groups: the "initial group", the "enforcement group", and the "support group". The "initial group" consisted of Carmilla, Laura, Danny, Mel and Kirsch because Tobias would be expecting Carmilla to show up with her human friends. Their group's job was to find Tobias and distract him from paying attention to his surroundings. Douglas told LaF that Tobias was very in tune with his secondary senses and warned them about his reflexes. The "enforcement group" was made up of Mattie and Artan. Their role was to trail behind the "initial group" covertly, so that Tobias would be caught off guard by their presence. And lastly, the "support group" was LaF and J.P., who kept tabs on all the members using a homing device and the synchronization of everyone's mobile devices. They stayed away at a greater distance, from both groups, as to not interfere at all. J.P. held on to an infrared device while LaF used the homing device. The unnamed group was Perry and Cohen, who stayed back at the apartment. The smaller blonde was exhausted and Perry offered to watch over her while she slept until everyone had come back. Douglas also decided to stay back as a bodyguard for Perry and Cohen.

The "initial group" were currently walking around the shipment yard. It was dark and uncharacteristically cold for an early October evening. The odd quartet searched between all the aisles of stacked cargo trailers.

"So how are you feeling about the Bloody Brady Bunch, Hollis?" Mel asked Laura. "Must be sudden, having the Addams Family over, right now."

"Honestly, it's kind of interesting. Carm's only ever spoken about Mattie and Will and that's because I've met them. It seems like she's still reluctant to tell me about everything, and I don't know how to feel about it."

"Whoa, I just wanted your input on the first impressions. Save the rest for Dr. Doolittle."

"Oh, shut it, Mel." Danny jumped in, "I think that you should confront her more, Laura. I mean it's been 6 years; don't you think you have the right to ask a little more?"

"I'm right here, dimwits." Carmilla said, annoyed about the conversation that was, more or less, creating potential relationship problems. "Laura, my family is pretty big and any information I tell you, that you don't need to know yet, would be pointless." Carmilla then turned to Danny and Mel, "Right now, I'd appreciate it if we all shut the hell up and looked for my kid, got it Xena and Lara Croft?" Mel and Danny just shrugged while Laura was fixated on her girlfriend's choice of words.

"Did you just say 'your kid'?" the journalist asked, causing their friends to smirk and Carmilla to shrug.

"Don't read into that; let's keep moving." The vampire snarled and rushed off to the front of their pack. Laura just smiled, knowingly. Her big and scary vampire was developing a soft spot for the girls and she was totally going to exploit that any way possible.

After a few more minutes, Carmilla raised her fist, signalling her friends to stop in their tracks. Before anyone could ask anything, the vampire growled.

"Tobias!" she cried, "Show your goddamn self! Quit being a fucking coward!" after a moment of silence, the group heard a low chuckle from behind them.

"You're so charming, Mercy," Came a voice from the shadows. "such a wonderful guest." Everyone turned around to see an averaged sized man with short spikey brown hair. He was dressed in a black peacoat and black ripped jeans. He smirked at the group because he had significant upper hand as he had his arm draped over Levy's shoulders.

"LEV!" Laura cried, as she started to move towards the teen. Before she could properly advance, Danny and Mel held her back. Carmilla, on the other hand, stalked towards her brother like a lioness. Tobias just laughed again.

"Sister! How lovely it is for you to stop by."

"Unhand her, Toby." Carm instructed, "She's not what you're after."

"Oh, believe me, I know." Tobias replied, "She's got quite the feisty little attitude that I find is an incredible nuisance."

"Let go of me, creep!" Levy said, trying to shrug herself out of his grasp. She hissed in pain as he dug his nails, further, into her shoulder.

"Now, now, niece; let's be nice." He reprimanded in a smooth tone. She simply glared at him.

"I am NOT your niece!"

"Just let her go, Toby." Carmilla said, this time her tone was a sort of angry plea, "You've got us here, just let her go!"

"What makes you so confident that you know what I'm looking for, Mercy?" Tobias inquired. Carmilla shook her head.

"Why don't you tell me why the hell you're here, first?" Carmilla suggested, menacingly. Before Tobias could answer, he heard a thud come from behind him.

"How the hell did you escape?" Artan said, appearing behind Tobias. He was accompanied by Mattie, who stood a little further back. Tobias addressed Carmilla then.

"Mercy…I wish you'd have told me about…these ones." Tobias snickered, evilly, and slowly turned to face the new faces. "Evening, Artie and Matts! How nice of you to drop in."

"Yeah, Literally." Kirsch commented, standing at a safe distance from the scarier vampires alongside Laura, Mel and Danny. Danny shushed him and Mel slapped his wrist while Laura never took her eyes off of Levy or Carm.

"Well, you know us…" Mattie said, addressing Tobias. "trying to keep the family…ties." He scoffed.

"By encasing me in cement and dropping me down into the depths of the Atlantic?!" Tobias growled, temporarily releasing his hold on Levy. The young blonde took a chance and darted towards Carmilla, immediately, and the vampire wrapped her up in her arms securely.

"CARM–!" Levy cried, into the older woman's chest, "C-Carm – I-I'm s-s-s-sorry! I didn't m-mean to be a brat –!"

"Shh, it's okay." Carmilla soothed, holding the teenager close to her. "It's okay, I get it."

Laura watched the interaction and felt her heart warm at the sight. _We're gonna be okay,_ she thought. She was relieved that Levy was alright and even more relieved that her and Carm could resolve their conflicts. Completely ignoring the charming familial display behind them, Tobias, Mattie and Artan continued to be in a standoff.

"We wouldn't have had to if you controlled your goddamn self!" Artan gritted through his teeth. He lurched forward, but stopped when he felt Mattie's hand on his chest, preventing him to move any further.

"Calm, brother." Mattie chided him, "Here you are, accusing him of no control, and you're here ready to do the same thing."

"He's right though, isn't he Matska?" Tobias asked rhetorically, "I'm a monster; I slaughtered countless helpless people, in my time." There was an obvious air of sarcasm in his tone, "There is no one else, on this planet, that has amounted to the atrocities that I, alone, have committed in my lifespan!"

"Oh, that's rich." Artan scoffed, "How dare you try and minimize your actions!"

"Everyone in our 'family' was murdering for a living!" Tobias justified, "And I was thrown under the bus – ocean rather – for doing the same?!"

"You know damn well why we needed those sacrifices, you imbecile!" Artan snarled, Mattie still holding him in his place. "Lilita almost killed us all after your little stunt!" Levy looked up at Carmilla, very confused.

"What's the creepy guy talking about? And who the hell are _those_ people?" she asked and Carmilla just shook her head.

"Just shut up and back out of here, real slow." Carmilla instructed, "I'll explain everything when we get home. Just walk over to Laura without making a sound." Levy looked at Carm in disbelief, rapidly shaking her head.

"No!" Levy answered, "I'm not leaving you here!"

"You ever wanna see your sister again, Tweedle Dee?" Carmilla hissed back, "Just go to Laura!"

"But –!"

"I'll be fine, kid." The vampire reassured. Levy gave one more squeeze and slowly made her way to where Laura was. Carmilla never took her eyes off of her siblings.

"SHE COULD HAVE KILLED US ALL, AND YOU KNEW IT!" Artan shouted, leaping towards Tobias. Mattie didn't react fast enough and Artan successfully tackled Tobias to the floor.

"ARTAN, YOU IDIOT!" Mattie screeched, trying to pry her brothers apart.

"GUYS, LET'S GO!" Danny yelled, beckoning all her friends to follow her.

"Carm!" Laura shouted back but her girlfriend just shook her head. The vampire pointed towards the other direction before joining her siblings in the dog pile. Laura tried to run back but Kirsch picked her up. "KIRSCH! PUT ME DOWN!"

"Sorry, Little Hottie," he said as they ran away from where Tobias was, "Promised Carmilla I'd keep you from jumping into a fight!"

"What?!" Laura asked, in shock. "When did you promise her that?! Kirsch!" the man just ignored her line of questioning and continued to run.

-The Hollis/Karnstein Apartment-

"LEVY!" Cohen exclaimed as her twin came through the front door. The taller twin was in the middle of taking off her sneakers when Cohen aggressively wrapped her arms around her. Levy hugged her back and they cried together. Laura felt her own tears threatening to escape but Perry began to lightly massage her shoulders.

"It's all good now, sweetheart," she soothed, "Everyone's okay now." Perry shouldn't have said that because Levy had heard it and began to stress about Carmilla.

"WHY DID WE JUST LEAVE HER THERE?!" Levy questioned, frantically from her sister's embrace. "WHY AREN'T WE WAITING?!"

"Oh my god." Mel groaned, "Settle down!" Laura shot her friend a warning glare and the other woman just waved her off.

"Lev, Carm's gonna be fine." Laura reassured her yet she was probably speaking to herself more than anything. "She's got some…family issues to deal with."

"Wait…so all those creepy people were her…family?!" Levy asked the journalist with widened eyes and disbelief in her tone.

"Yes," Douglas said, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle of hemo soy. "I'm also one of them." He offered a comforting smile towards her that Laura really appreciated. She got a feeling that Douglas was not as intense as everyone else. "I'm Douglas Cedric Wyndham; Mir - Carmilla's brother." He was still getting used to his sister's newer name.

"Are you a vampire too?" the teen asked.

"Yeah," Cohen said, jumping in. "He's been a bloodsucker since 1620. He's also really good at Jeopardy." At this comment, Perry sighed and Douglas rolled his eyes. When everyone had left, Cohen persuaded them to watch the game show with her until everyone came back.

"Damn." Levy said. She then offered her hand for him to shake and he happily obliged. "I'm Levy. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." He told her, "I apologize for our…other brother's actions. He's…not the best of the bunch."

"Do you know why he's here?" J.P. intercepted, from behind the twins. "I thought you said that he was encased in cement at the bottom of the Atlantic." Douglas cringed at his…sort of brother. Levy stared at Laura for any sort of explanation but the older blonde just patted her knee and told her to ask later.

"Well, cement has the opportunity to dissolve, in certain climates." Douglas offered, "I tried to tell Artan and Matska that encasing him in cement, in saltwater, would eventually fail us. They obviously didn't listen to me."

"Carm kept saying that she knew what he wanted," Danny jumped in, "what…what is he looking for?"

"What he's looking for is very simple," Douglas said solemnly, "He wants the siblings that trapped him." The mood in the room shifted and Laura spoke up.

"And what does he want with them?" she asked.

"Answers." Douglas answered simply. Before he could say anything else, there was a rush of cold air and the other vampiric siblings had shown up by the front door. Douglas smiled as he watched his siblings panting, tired and bruised from their encounter with Tobias. He slowly walked towards them and placed a hand on Carmilla's shoulder. "Did we all play nice with Toby, this evening?" He asked and his siblings groaned.

"Stuff it, Doug." Carmilla said, attempting to catch her breath. Laura immediately ran to her girlfriend's side and adjusted her so that she could stand up straight. Carmilla gave Laura an appreciative pat on her arm without taking her eyes off of her brother. "Wipe that smugness off of your face." She added and he feigned confusion.

"Whatever do you mean, Mircalla?" he laughed once more before asking the real questions. "Did you manage to kill him?" The three siblings shook their heads.

"No." Mattie said, regretfully. "But we chased him to the border and he is now in the United States."

"I plan on looking for him there, but I doubt he'll remain there for long." Artan added, rubbing the bruise that was forming on the left side of his face.

"How did he manage to kidnap Levy?" Laura questioned the group of vampires. Mattie was the one to answer.

"He said that he had been stalking everyone in Styria since his escape." she explained, "Around the time that Maman was using your friend as a puppet, was when he resurfaced. After figuring out her plan, he realized that we'd all be doomed. Thus, he moved back to Norway where he enjoyed his time, knowing we'd all be killed. When the world didn't end, he aggressively researched our petite chou here." Mattie said pointing towards Laura. "He thought that Mircalla would be whipped and assumed that she'd still be with you. So, he moved to Toronto. Coincidentally, he said that he got a job at the school as a custodian –!"

"As he belongs near trash –!" Artan interrupted. Everyone ignored him but Mel nodded at the jab.

"He heard the name 'Karnstein' yelled out, in the gymnasium." The eldest vampire continued, "When he saw who answered, it was Levy. From there, he decided to use her as bait." Laura frowned at this.

"So…since he found you guys…does that mean he's moving on to something else?" the journalist asked, fearful that he'd strike again and try to kidnap both of the kids. Mattie shook her head.

"Fear not. He has the information that he was after." Mattie said, moving towards the kitchen to grab some more hemo soy. She hated the idea of drinking 'fake blood' but she needed energy after tonight's events.

"He'll be seeking information elsewhere." Douglas said, adjusting his skinny tie.

"Where do you think he's going then?" J.P. questioned. Douglas sighed and placed his hands on his hips. He wanted to answer, but couldn't bring himself to. Sensing his brother's discomfort, Artan stepped in.

"To find Tatiana," he answered, "He'll be off to Malta, when he gets the chance."

"Bloody Christ." Douglas whined, running a hand through his black hair. Laura was about to ask who that was when Carmilla waved at her siblings and their friends.

"Thanks for all your help, Mystery Inc. and the Flintstones." Carmilla addressed with her usual blatant sarcasm. "As much as I like to make-believe that we are the entire cast of 'Full House', I do believe we've earned some rest. Please leave my home now." After a series of goodbyes and groaning, everyone began to reluctantly leave the apartment. Levy and Cohen gave everyone "Thank you" hugs and held the door open for them as they exited. Most of Carmilla and Laura's friends had left, but the vampires stayed back a little longer.

"We'll come back when we locate the bastard." Artan promised before using his vampire speed to leave the apartment. Douglas, Mattie and J.P. nodded in agreement with the blonde man's words.

"Don't worry, Mircalla," Mattie said placing a hand on her sister's cheek. She then walked over to Cohen and Levy and patted each of them on the head. "we'll make sure he doesn't bother these little tykes again." And with that the apartment was free of vampires that were not Carmilla.

Laura and Carmilla sighed as Levy locked the front door. The couple collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from the events of their day. The twins joined them but laid down on the floor, by the coffee table. There was a gravid, but not awkward, silence that enveloped the atmosphere around them as they relished the fact that all four of them were home at last. Levy was fighting sleep, facedown on the hardwood floor when Cohen's voice broke through the silence.

"So, can someone legitimately fill me in on what the fuck actually happened today?"


End file.
